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Trap-Jaw Ants. Several different groups of ants have independently evolved a novel trap mechanism for catching prey. Trap-jaw ants lock their mandibles open and store impressive amounts of energy in the muscles of the head. When sensitive hairs in the trap are triggered, the mandibles close in a powerful and audible snap. The trap is so forceful in some species that the insects can launch themselves through the air by snapping their mandibles on the ground.

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alexwild > Caught! A small cricket has fallen prey to the formidable jaws of an Odontomachus coquereli ant. Madagascar.

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alexwild > A worker of the South American trap-jaw ant Odontomachus meinerti bares her jaws.

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alexwild > Close-up of Odontomachus bauri, a Neotropical trap-jaw ant. Costa Rica.

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alexwild > Portrait of a trap-jaw ant, Odontomachus coquereli. Madagascar.

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alexwild > An Orectognathus trap-jaw ant handles a larva in the brood nest. This insect belongs to a separate evolutionary radiation of trap-jaw ants from the better-known Odontomachus ants.

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alexwild > Odontomachus chelifer is the largest of the new world trap-jaw ants.

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alexwild > A predaceous Odontomachus bauri ant has captured a small cricket. Costa Rica.

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alexwild > Portrait of a Neotropical trap-jaw ant Odontomachus bauri. Costa Rica.

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alexwild > Odontomachus meinerti is the smallest of the new world Odontomachus.

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Caught! A small cricket has fallen prey to the formidable jaws of an Odontomachus coquereli ant. Madagascar.

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> Caught! A small cricket has fallen prey to the formidable jaws of an Odontomachus coquereli ant. Madagascar.

filename: coquereli6

Caught! A small cricket has fallen prey to the formidable jaws of an Odontomachus coquereli ant. Madagascar.

filename: coquereli6

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Keywords: bug ant bugs ants insect jaws insects madagascar predators entomology formicidae trapjaw ants trapjaw ant mandibles ponerinae odontomachus

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all images and text © Alex Wild 2008

insect pictures, insect images, insect photos, insect photography, ant images, bug pictures, bug photographs, insect identification, ant pictures

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