Mandible movements in ants

Paul, Jürgen

doi:10.1016/s1095-6433(01)00458-5

Cited by 59 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…However, we cannot rule out that other effects such as fibre density optimization, fibre combination, properties of surrounding tissues or passive forces of joints might influence muscle configuration as well. For example, different muscle fibre-type combinations were reported for several ant species (Paul, 2001), and tissue properties in insects seem to be species and body part dependent, varying sometimes by several orders of magnitude (Hillerton, 1980;Hillerton et al, 1982;Vincent, 2002;Vincent and Wegst, 2004). Compared with musculoskeletal research in vertebrates, knowledge of insect muscle characteristics is only fragmentary and needs to be studied on a systematic level by investigating a range of species from different orders.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musculoskeletal modeling of the dragonfly mandible system as an aid to understanding the role of single muscles in an evolutionary context

David

Funken

Potthast

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Insects show a great variety of mouthpart and muscle configurations; however, knowledge of their mouthpart kinematics and muscle activation patterns is fragmentary. Understanding the role of muscle groups during movement and comparing them between insect groups could yield insights into evolutionary patterns and functional constraints. Here, we developed a mathematical inverse dynamic model including distinct muscles for an insect head-mandiblemuscle complex based on micro-computed tomography (µCT) data and bite force measurements. With the advent of µCT, it is now possible to obtain precise spatial information about muscle attachment areas and head capsule construction in insects. Our model shows a distinct activation pattern for certain fibre groups potentially related to a geometry-dependent optimization. Muscle activation patterns suggest that intramandibular muscles play a minor role in bite force generation, which is a potential reason for their loss in several lineages of higher insects. Our model is in agreement with previous studies investigating fast and slow muscle fibres and is able to resolve the spatio-temporal activation patterns of these different muscle types in insects. The model used here has a high potential for large-scale comparative analyses on the role of different muscle setups and head capsule designs in the megadiverse insects in order to aid our understanding of insect head capsule and mouthpart evolution under mechanical constraints.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musculoskeletal modeling of the dragonfly mandible system as an aid to understanding the role of single muscles in an evolutionary context

David

Funken

Potthast

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…The mandibles of ants have many functions, such as catching prey, fight, cutting leaves, brood care, and communication (Paul, 2001). Although an important tool for many tasks (Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990), there is little information on the morphology of ant mandibles and no quantitative data regarding mandibular differences are available.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mandibles of Leaf-Cutting Ants: Morphology Related to Food Preference

et al. 2016

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Feed adaptation is crucial for the ecological success of animals, which explore specific or varied resources according to the suitability of the selected feature. We hypothesized that the mandibles of leaf-cutting ants exhibit a greater degree of specialization because of the specific food preference of some species. The objective of this study was to highlight possible morphological differences between the mandibles of leaf-cutting ants of the genus Atta related to the food preference of the species, i.e., to investigate the morphofunctionality of mandibles in conjunction with a study of the leaf anatomy of plants selected. A detailed description of the mandibles of workers of the grass-cutting ant Atta bisphaerica and of the leaf-cutting ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa was provided, and the anatomy and chemical composition of the plant material foraged by these species were investigated. For morphometric analysis, 50 individuals of each of the four size classes were dissected for removal of the right mandible and one sample of each caste was processed for scanning electron microscopy. The Atta species had a similar mandibular morphology and differences were only observed between species and among castes, demonstrating the clear specialization of workers. Together with the anatomical study of the foraged plant material, the results indicate a high abundance of lignified cells in grasses, permitting to infer that the foraging and processing of these plants can lead to differences in behavioral acts during their preparation and incorporation in the fungus garden. We accept the hypothesis of morphofunctionality in view of the mandibular morphology observed.

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“…Second, males have larger closer muscles than females. The morphology of the posterior part of the insect head capsule (where the closer muscles attach) is known to be closely related to (or even ontologically caused by) the size and shape of the mandible closer muscle (Gorb and Beutel, 2000;Li et al, 2011;Paul, 2001). Our observations of broad male stag beetle heads led us to hypothesize that males have relatively larger muscles than females.…”

Section: Research Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

“…fighting, digging, leaf-cutting, grooming and transporting liquids in ants; penetrating the soft tissues of snails and attaching to amphibian skin in ground beetles; cutting mature tree leaves and tearing and shredding young tree leaves in saturniids (Bernays, 1998;Bernays and Janzen, 1988;Ober et al, 2011;Paul, 2001;Wizen and Gasith, 2011). Male stag beetles (Lucanidae) are widely known for their extraordinary mandibles: a conspicuous sexual dimorphism where males can have mandibles in a variety of shapes that can be almost as long as their own body, while female mandibles are small and indistinct (Kawano, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomechanical determinants of bite force dimorphism inCyclommatus metalliferstag beetles

Goyens

Dirckx

Dierick

et al. 2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

172

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In the stag beetle family (Lucanidae), males have diverged from females by sexual selection. The males fight each other for mating opportunities with their enlarged mandibles. It is known that owners of larger fighting apparatuses are favoured to win the male-male fights, but it was unclear whether male stag beetles also need to produce high bite forces while grabbing and lifting opponents in fights. We show that male Cyclommatus metallifer stag beetles bite three times as forcefully as females. This is not entirely unexpected given the spectacular nature of the fights, but all the more impressive given the difficulty of achieving this with their long mandibles (long levers). Our results suggest no increase in male intrinsic muscle strength to accomplish this. However, morphological analyses show that the long mandibular output levers in males are compensated by elongated input levers (and thus a wider anterior side of the head). The surplus of male bite force capability is realized by enlargement of the closer muscles of the mandibles, while overall muscle force direction remained optimal. To enable the forceful bites required to ensure male reproductive success, male head size and shape are adapted for long input levers and large muscles. Therefore, the entire head should be regarded as an integral part of male armature.

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Mandible movements in ants

Cited by 59 publications

References 51 publications

Musculoskeletal modeling of the dragonfly mandible system as an aid to understanding the role of single muscles in an evolutionary context

Musculoskeletal modeling of the dragonfly mandible system as an aid to understanding the role of single muscles in an evolutionary context

Mandibles of Leaf-Cutting Ants: Morphology Related to Food Preference

Biomechanical determinants of bite force dimorphism inCyclommatus metalliferstag beetles

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