ArticlePLoS biology2021
Functional innovation promotes diversification of form in the evolution of an ultrafast trap-jaw mechanism in ants.
Article in PLoS biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 65 citations in OpenAlex.
- The predatory behavior of ants: an impressive panoply of morphological adaptations.Insect science · 2026Review
- New ant records from La Réunion Island (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).Biodiversity data journal · 2026Article
- Elastic Energy Storage in Biological Materials: Internal Stresses and Their Functionality.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Review
- Evolutionary history of ponerine ants highlights how the timing of dispersal events shapes modern biodiversity.Nature communications · 2025Article
- A fossil-informed pattern of body size increase and local extinction inProceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Adaptive trade-offs between vertebrate defence and insect predation drive Amazonian ant venom evolution.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Large deformation diffeomorphic mapping of 3D shape variation reveals two distinct mandible and head capsule morphs inEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- Simulated biomechanical performance of morphologically disparate ant mandibles under bite loading.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Mechanical demands of bite in plane head shapes of ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) workers.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Shifts in morphological covariation and evolutionary rates across multiple acquisitions of the trap-jaw mechanism in Strumigenys.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2022Article
- A novel power-amplified jumping behavior in larval beetles (Coleoptera: Laemophloeidae).PloS one · 2022Article
- Tuned muscle and spring properties increase elastic energy storage.The Journal of experimental biology · 2021Article
- Morphological determinants of bite force capacity in insects: a biomechanical analysis of polymorphic leaf-cutter ants.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2021Article
- Functional innovation promotes diversification of form in the evolution of an ultrafast trap-jaw mechanism in ants.PLoS biology · 2021Article
- Not So Fast: Strike Kinematics of the Araneoid Trap-Jaw SpiderIntegrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2021Article
- A new species group ofZooKeys · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Evolutionary innovations underlie the rise of diversity and complexity-the 2 long-term trends in the history of life. How does natural selection redesign multiple interacting parts to achieve a new emergent function? We investigated the evolution of a biomechanical innovation, the latch-spring mechanism of trap-jaw ants, to address 2 outstanding evolutionary problems: how form and function change in a system during the evolution of new complex traits, and whether such innovations and the diversity they beget are repeatable in time and space. Using a new phylogenetic reconstruction of 470 species, and X-ray microtomography and high-speed videography of representative taxa, we found the trap-jaw mechanism evolved independently 7 to 10 times in a single ant genus (Strumigenys), resulting in the repeated evolution of diverse forms on different continents. The trap mechanism facilitates a 6 to 7 order of magnitude greater mandible acceleration relative to simpler ancestors, currently the fastest recorded acceleration of a resettable animal movement. We found that most morphological diversification occurred after evolution of latch-spring mechanisms, which evolved via minor realignments of mouthpart structures. This finding, whereby incremental changes in form lead to a change of function, followed by large morphological reorganization around the new function, provides a model for understanding the evolution of complex biomechanical traits, as well as insights into why such innovations often happen repeatedly.
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