IT鈥橲 the speeding bullet of the natural world. The trap-jaw ant snaps shut its mandibles at speeds of 35 to 64 metres per second, over 2000 times faster than the blink of an eye.
That makes it the fastest recorded strike in the animal kingdom, say Sheila Patek of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues. The previous record holder, the mantis shrimp, punched at a relatively sluggish 23 metres per second.
The ant, Odontomachus bauri, cranks its mandibles open with a pair of huge muscles in the head, and holds them cocked with a latch called the clypeus. Releasing the latch unleashes the stored energy, much as a crossbow releases its energy when fired (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 103, p 12787).
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The ant doesn鈥檛 just use its mandibles for biting. If a predator threatens, the ant can strike its jaws on the ground and catapult itself to safety. Vertical jumps can reach over 8 centimetres, and horizontal jumps can throw it almost 40 centimetres.
鈥淚nterestingly enough, the bite does not hurt,鈥� says Patek. An ant cannot get its jaws around parts of our body as it can around its prey, she says. 鈥淭he ants simply bounce off when they strike us.鈥�
