| Title |
Mandible-Powered Escape Jumps in Trap-Jaw Ants Increase Survival Rates during Predator-Prey Encounters
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
PLOS ONE, May 2015
|
| DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0124871 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Fredrick J. Larabee, Andrew V. Suarez |
| Abstract |
Animals use a variety of escape mechanisms to increase the probability of surviving predatory attacks. Antipredator defenses can be elaborate, making their evolutionary origin unclear. Trap-jaw ants are known for their rapid and powerful predatory mandible strikes, and some species have been observed to direct those strikes at the substrate, thereby launching themselves into the air away from a potential threat. This potential escape mechanism has never been examined in a natural context. We studied the use of mandible-powered jumping in Odontomachus brunneus during their interactions with a common ant predator: pit-building antlions. We observed that while trap-jaw ant workers escaped from antlion pits by running in about half of interactions, in 15% of interactions they escaped by mandible-powered jumping. To test whether escape jumps improved individual survival, we experimentally prevented workers from jumping and measured their escape rate. Workers with unrestrained mandibles escaped from antlion pits significantly more frequently than workers with restrained mandibles. Our results indicate that some trap-jaw ant species can use mandible-powered jumps to escape from common predators. These results also provide a charismatic example of evolutionary co-option, where a trait that evolved for one function (predation) has been co-opted for another (defense). |
X Demographics
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Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 22 | 24% |
| Japan | 11 | 12% |
| United Kingdom | 3 | 3% |
| Canada | 2 | 2% |
| Dominican Republic | 1 | 1% |
| Brazil | 1 | 1% |
| Ireland | 1 | 1% |
| Papua New Guinea | 1 | 1% |
| Chile | 1 | 1% |
| Other | 3 | 3% |
| Unknown | 46 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 74 | 80% |
| Scientists | 15 | 16% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 2% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 1% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 65 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 1 | 2% |
| United States | 1 | 2% |
| Greece | 1 | 2% |
| Brazil | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 61 | 94% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 15 | 23% |
| Student > Master | 10 | 15% |
| Researcher | 9 | 14% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 7 | 11% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 5 | 8% |
| Other | 10 | 15% |
| Unknown | 9 | 14% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 25 | 38% |
| Environmental Science | 9 | 14% |
| Engineering | 4 | 6% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 5% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 3 | 5% |
| Other | 7 | 11% |
| Unknown | 14 | 22% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 401. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 December 2022.
All research outputs
#76,927
of 25,901,238 outputs
Outputs from PLOS ONE
#1,272
of 225,915 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#731
of 280,300 outputs
Outputs of similar age from PLOS ONE
#23
of 6,891 outputs
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