''Odontomachus'' is a genus of ants commonly called trap-jaw ants found in the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

and

subtropics The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately ...

throughout the world.

Overview

Commonly known as trap-jaw ants, species in ''Odontomachus'' have a pair of large, straight mandibles capable of opening 180°. These jaws are locked in place by an internal mechanism, and can snap shut on prey or objects when sensory hairs on the inside of the mandibles are touched. The mandibles are powerful and fast, giving the ant its common name. The mandibles either kill or maim the

prey Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not ki ...

, allowing the ant to bring it back to the nest. ''Odontomachus'' ants can simply lock and snap their jaws again if one bite is not enough, or to cut off bits of larger food. The mandibles also permit slow and fine movements for other tasks such as nest building and care of

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e. The ants were also observed to use their jaws as a

catapult A catapult is a ballistics, ballistic device used to launch a projectile at a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden rel ...

to eject intruders or fling themselves backwards to escape a threat. The

e of trap-jaw ants are remarkable in being ornamented with long spikes and presenting dorsal adhesive pads for fixation onto internal ant nest walls. They are

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...

, extremely active larvae. Apparently, they undergo three larval moults before entering metamorphosis. Their larvae use substrate to spin cocoons.

Diet

Trap-jaw ants are mostly carnivorous, but also consume

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

, insect honeydew, and ripe fruit.

Speed record

Trap-jaw ants of this genus have the second-fastest moving

predatory Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

appendage An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part or natural prolongation that protrudes from an organism's body such as an arm or a leg. Protrusions from single-celled bacteria and archaea are known as cell-surface appendages or surface app ...

s within the animal kingdom, after the dracula ant ('' Mystrium camillae''). One study of '' Odontomachus bauri'' recorded peak speeds between , with the jaws closing within just 130

microsecond A microsecond is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one millionth (0.000001 or 10−6 or ) of a second. Its symbol is μs, sometimes simplified to us when Unicode is not available. A microsecond is to one second, ...

s on average. The peak

force In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an Physical object, object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the Magnitu ...

exerted was in the order of 300 times the body weight of the ant, and acceleration of 1,000,000 m/s² or 100,000 ''g''.

Mimicry

The

jumping spider Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family (biology), family Salticidae. , this family contained over 600 species description, described genus, genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spide ...

genus '' Enoplomischus'' seems to

mimic In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. In the simples ...

this ant genus.

Distribution

''Odontomachus'' species are found in Central and South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa. In the United States, ''O. haematodus'' was "recorded in Alabama back in 1956, but now researchers have officially confirmed that the species has spread across the Gulf Coast, at least as far east as Pensacola, Florida." In the past, ''O. ruginodis'' was thought to be confined to the

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

region, but Magdalena Sorger, a PhD candidate at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

, has confirmed a record of ''O. ruginodis'' more than 100 miles north of Orlando, in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

. ''Odontomachus relictus'', however, is only found in "endangered scrub habitat on central Florida’s ancient sand ridges."

Species

Odontomachus pseudobauri BMNHP-II32 dorsal

The 73 valid species are: * ''

Odontomachus aciculatus ''Odontomachus'' is a genus of ants commonly called trap-jaw ants found in the tropics and subtropics throughout the world. Overview Commonly known as trap-jaw ants, species in ''Odontomachus'' have a pair of large, straight mandible (insect) ...

'' F. Smith, 1863 * '' Odontomachus affinis'' Guerin-Meneville, 1844 *'' Odontomachus alius'' Sorger & Zettel, 2011 *'' Odontomachus allolabis'' Kempf, 1974 *'' Odontomachus angulatus'' Mayr, 1866 *'' Odontomachus animosus'' Smith, 1860 *'' Odontomachus assiniensis'' Emery, 1892 *'' Odontomachus banksi'' Forel, 1910 *'' Odontomachus bauri'' Emery, 1892 *'' Odontomachus biolleyi'' Forel, 1908 *'' Odontomachus biumbonatus'' Brown, 1976 *'' Odontomachus bradleyi'' Brown, 1976 *'' Odontomachus brunneus'' (Patton, 1894) *'' Odontomachus caelatus'' Brown, 1976 *'' Odontomachus cephalotes'' Smith, 1863 (Indonesia, Australia, etc.) *'' Odontomachus chelifer'' (Latreille, 1802) *'' Odontomachus circulus'' Wang, 1993 *'' Odontomachus clarus'' Roger, 1861 *'' Odontomachus coquereli'' Roger, 1861 *'' Odontomachus cornutus'' Stitz, 1933 *'' Odontomachus desertorum'' Wheeler, 1915 *'' Odontomachus erythrocephalus'' Emery, 1890 *'' Odontomachus floresensis'' Brown, 1976 (Indonesia: Flores) *'' Odontomachus fulgidus'' Wang, 1993 *'' Odontomachus granatus'' Wang, 1993 *'' Odontomachus haematodus'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, 1758) (South America, introduced to Australia prior to 1876);

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

*'' Odontomachus hastatus'' ( Fabricius, 1804) *'' Odontomachus imperator'' Emery, 1887 *'' Odontomachus infandus'' Smith, 1858 *'' Odontomachus insularis'' Guérin-Méneville, 1844 *'' Odontomachus kuroiwae'' (Matsumura, 1912) *'' Odontomachus laticeps'' Roger, 1861 *'' Odontomachus latidens'' Mayr, 1867 *'' Odontomachus latissimus'' Viehmeyer, 1914 *'' Odontomachus malignus'' Smith, 1859 *'' Odontomachus mayi'' Mann, 1912 *'' Odontomachus meinerti'' Forel, 1905 *'' Odontomachus minangkabau'' Satria, Kurushima, Herwina, Yamane & Eguchi, 2015 *'' Odontomachus montanus'' Stitz, 1925 *'' Odontomachus monticola'' Emery, 1892 *'' Odontomachus mormo'' Brown, 1976 *'' Odontomachus nigriceps'' Smith, 1860 *'' Odontomachus opaciventris'' Forel, 1899 *'' Odontomachus opaculus'' Viehmeyer, 1912 *†'' Odontomachus paleomyagra'' Wappler, Dlussky, Engel, Prokop & Knor, 2014An Online Catalog of the Ants of the World: O. paleomyagra
/ref> *'' Odontomachus panamensis'' Forel, 1899 *'' Odontomachus papuanus'' Emery, 1887 *'' Odontomachus pararixosus'' Terayama & Ito, 2014 *'' Odontomachus peruanus'' Stitz, 1933 *'' Odontomachus philippinus'' Emery, 1893 *'' Odontomachus procerus'' Emery, 1893 *†'' Odontomachus pseudobauri'' (De Andrade, 1994) *'' Odontomachus relictus'' Deyrup & Cover, 2004 *'' Odontomachus rixosus'' Smith, 1857 *'' Odontomachus ruficeps'' Smith, 1858 (Australia) *'' Odontomachus rufithorax'' Emery, 1911 *'' Odontomachus ruginodis'' Smith, 1937 *'' Odontomachus saevissimus'' Smith, 1858 *'' Odontomachus scalptus'' Brown, 1978 *'' Odontomachus schoedli'' Sorger & Zettel, 2011 *'' Odontomachus scifictus'' Sorger & Zettel, 2011 *'' Odontomachus silvestrii'' W.M. Wheeler, 1927 *'' Odontomachus simillimus'' F. Smith, 1858 (Australia,

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, etc.) *†'' Odontomachus spinifer'' De Andrade, 1994 *'' Odontomachus spissus'' Kempf, 1962 *'' Odontomachus sumbensis'' Brown, 1976 *'' Odontomachus tensus'' Wang, 1993 *'' Odontomachus testaceus'' Emery, 1897 *'' Odontomachus troglodytes'' Santschi, 1914 (Africa, Madagascar, Inner Seychelles) * '' Odontomachus turneri'' Forel, 1900 (Australia) *'' Odontomachus tyrannicus'' Smith, 1859 *'' Odontomachus xizangensis'' Wang, 1993 *'' Odontomachus yucatecus'' Brown, 1976

References

External links

* Mississippi Entomology Museum
Pictures of worker and male ''O. haematodus''

Ant's super-fast bite is a built-in 'ejector seat'

Ferocious ants bite like a bullet
- ''BBC News'', 21 August 2006. Elli Leadbeater. Retrieved 22 August 2006
Man-trap jaws make ant fastest predator
- ''Scotsman'', 22 August 2006. John Von Radowitz. Retrieved 22 August 2006 {{Taxonbar, from=Q2000819 Ponerinae Ant genera