Trap-Jaw Ants Break Speed Records With Jaws

Ant writes to tell us UC Berkeley News is reporting that a species of Ant native to Central and South America is setting speed records with their jaws. The trap-jaw ant has been clocked closing its mandibles at between 78 and 145 miles per hour, said to be the "fastest self-powered predatory strike in the animal kingdom". In addition to blinding speed the ants have also been taped using their jaws to fling themselves into the air.

Does this dethrone the shrimp?

[shoolz]

It was reported in 2004 that Shrimp have the fastest 'kick' [berkeley.edu].

For more cool insect stuff ...

[OnTheWay]

Check out the BBC DVD series "Life in the Undergrowth", with the incomparable David Attenborough. The biggest problem with the series is that, at 5 episodes, it's far too short.

Re:Another fun fact about bugs...

[airuck]

Entomologist have a wealth of stories to tell. One of my favortites is traumatic insemination [pnas.org] in bed bugs.

The bed bug, Cimex lectularius, has a unique mode of copulation termed "traumatic" insemination [Carayon, J. (1966) in Monograph of the Cimicidae, ed. Usinger, R. (Entomol. Soc. Am., Philadelphia), pp. 81-167] during which the male pierces the female's abdominal wall with his external genitalia and inseminates into her body cavity [Carayon, J. (1966) in Monograph of the Cimicidae, ed. Usinger, R. (Entomol. Soc. Am., Philadelphia), pp. 81-167]. Under controlled natural conditions, traumatic insemination was frequent and temporally restricted. We show for the first time, to our knowledge, that traumatic insemination results in (i) last-male sperm precedence, (ii) suboptimal remating frequencies for the maintenance of female fertility, and (iii) reduced longevity and reproductive success in females. Experimental females did not receive indirect benefits from multiple mating. We conclude that traumatic insemination is probably a coercive male copulatory strategy that results in a sexual conflict of interests.

I guess a jellyfish sting doesn't count

[demigod]

I guess a jellyfish stings doesn't count as a self-powered predatory strike then. Why?

http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/05/09/th e-sting-of-the-jellyfish-natures-fastest-cellular- mechanism/ [wordpress.com]

Fire Ants Are Here

[Aqua_boy17]

They're still here. I live in South Florida and they have spread over the years throughout the entire state. Occaisionally, you will hear about livestock or sometimes even a person in a nursing home or otherwise debilitated being bitten to death by them. Some people have also developed severe allergies to them and a single bite can be fatal for these people if they don't have epiniphrine nearby. Those who can tolerate bites wind up with welts that become pustules and last for days.

The fire ants are very hard to eradicate as once you get rid of them from your yard, they just eventually creep back over from a neighbor's yard. Flooding rains don't help as the ants can simply just raft themselves over the water until it recedes. This is also another way that they spread.

The bait type treatments (Amdro TM, etc.) are somewhat effective, but they're expensive and they don't permanently rid you of these pests. We used to just burn the mounds with gasoline when we were kids, but it's not effective at getting the whole mound and it's ecologically irresponsible as the gas that doesn't burn winds up in the aquafer(sp?).

I did recently see a program where fire ant mounds were being treated in rural areas with a mite that specializes in laying its eggs in the fire ants' skulls. The mite larvae hatch out and then spread to the rest of the mound to lather, rinse, repeat. It looks like this may be an effective natural way of keeping fire ants in check, if they can't be completely eliminated. I think someone at the University of Florida came up with this and if it works, they should be in line for some kind of prize for the research.

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

Cnidarians (i.e. Jellyfish & Sea Anemones) have stinging cells which are much faster. These cells, called nematocysts, are the fastest things in the animal kingdom. The stingers launch out at speeds well in excess of 300 miles per hour.

Re:More on-topic than ever before

[Gulthek]

Mousepad: He's using his cliches again.
Donbot: How many times is that, two or three?
Clamps: Three.
Donbot: All right, that's the necessary number of times. That hackneyed writer's going
                    to have a little on-the-job "accident."