Berkeley biologist discovers speed-munching ants

By Erica Holt, Bay City News Service

August 22, 2006

A small ant native to Central and South America can clamp its jaws as fast as 145 mph, quicker than a mantis shrimp, the former record-holder of the swiftest moving body part in the animal kingdom, according to a study released Monday led by a University of California at Berkeley biologist.

UC Berkeley biologist Sheila Patek led research on the tiny 12 to 15 milligram trap-jaw ants. The study found the ant uses muscles in its head to hold its mandibles open and can snap them closed at a speed of 78 to 145 mph, quicker than the blink of an eye.

The trap-jaw ants use their jaws to launch themselves into the air for defense and to capture prey, according to the study, which shows the ants can catapult themselves as far as 44 feet high and 132 feet horizontally.

Patek's team used high-speed video to monitor trap-jaw ants collected from Costa Rica and found each bite generates a force more than 300 times the insect's body weight.

The report was released Monday in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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