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The animation shows the changes in form as the trap-jaw mechanism becomes more divergent from the ancestral form. The jaws (yellow) develop small projections that can latch onto the labrum (purple).

Wood named them “trap-jaw” spiders because their mechanism for catching prey—like that of so-called trap-jaw ants—resembles a mouse trap clamping shut. For the present study, Wood and colleagues ...

Although ants are generally beneficial for the garden ecosystem, an excessive number can cause damage. At that point, it's worth using a simple but effective trap to solve the problem quickly.

That model suggested that the split ensures that the stress on the joint between the mandible and the ant’s head is zero. The study authors found that if the energy generated by the jaw closing is ...