Odontomachus chelifer. Ants from different colonies don't normally tolerate each other. Here, a trap-jaw ant dispatches an intruder from a neighboring nest. Aragua, Venezuela - Alex Wild Photography - Insect Photography

Trap-Jaw Ants

Several lineages of ants have independently evolved an effective predatory device: spring-loaded mandibles that snap shut on a hair trigger.

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Odontomachus chelifer is the largest trap-jaw ant species in South America.

Aragua, Venezuela

Odontomachus chelifer. Ants from different colonies don't normally tolerate each other. Here, a trap-jaw ant dispatches an intruder from a neighboring nest.

Aragua, Venezuela

Odontomachus clarus. Male ants betray the wasp ancestry of ants, often bearing little resemblance to the females of the species. This is a male of the desert trap-jaw ant.

Tucson, Arizona, USA

An Acanthognathus ocellatus forager hunts through a bed of moss

Venezuela

The short inner teeth on the mandibles of this Acanthognathus ocellatus worker are for performing the delicate tasks within the nest, as the expansive trap-jaws themselves are not well-suited for domestic work.

Venezuela

Anochetus faurei

St. Lucia, KZN, South Africa

Odontomachus chelifer. Ants from different colonies don't normally tolerate each other. Here, a trap-jaw ant dispatches an intruder from a neighboring nest.

Aragua, Venezuela

Canon EOS 20D |

More details: exif |

Original size: 3504x2336 |

Current: 800x534 |

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Trap-Jaw Ants

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