they use their powerful mandibles to munch away. Biting the head off of their prey is a favorite technique for hungry mantises. So when female mantises decide to eat an approaching male mantis ...

Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.

the mantis shrimp’s punch was a strong candidate for the fastest movement in the natural world. It has since been trumped by the bite of the well-named trapjaw ant, whose mandibles close with an ...

I suspect their hard shells would be tough for mantis mandibles and too slippery for the front legs to grasp. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but … don’t hold your breath.” ...

as well as the mandibles of trap jaw ants and exploding plant seeds. But biologists who have been studying these mechanisms for years have noticed something unusual in the mantis shrimp—a one ...

Move over, trap-jaw ants and mantis shrimp: There's a faster appendage in town. According to a new study, the Dracula ant, Mystrium camillae, can snap its mandibles at speeds of up to 90 meters ...

What are their mandibles—that’s their mouth parts, in case you weren’t sure—even doing going so fast? They’re snapping. And yeah, that might not sound as exciting as how a mantis shrimp ...

Similar mechanisms drive mantis shrimp punches ... motion movie of a trap-jaw ant (Odontomachus brunneus) releasing its mandibles. Reproduced with permission of The Company of Biologists.

Nature 428: 819-820. Update: At the time of writing, the mantis shrimp's punch was a strong candidate for the fastest movement in the natural world. It has since been trumped by the bite of the ...