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Two sets of muscles move the mandibles in the coronal plane of the mouth: abductor muscles move insects' mandibles apart ; adductor muscles bring them together . They do this mainly in opening and closing their jaws in feeding, but also in using the mandibles as tools, or possibly in fighting.
The mandibles of a bull ant. Insect mandibles are a pair of appendages near the insect's mouth, and the most anterior of the three pairs of oral appendages (the labrum is more anterior, but is a single fused structure). Their function is typically to grasp, crush, or cut the insect's food, or to defend against predators or rivals.
The mandibles of a bull ant. The mandible (from Latin: mandibula or mandĭbŭ-lum, a jaw) [1] of an arthropod is a pair of mouthparts used either for biting or cutting and holding food. Mandibles are often simply called jaws. Mandibles are present in the extant subphyla Myriapoda (millipedes and others), Crustacea and Hexapoda (insects etc.).
The hypopharynx is a median lobe immediately behind the mouth, projecting forwards from the back of the preoral cavity; it is a lobe of uncertain origin, but perhaps associated with the mandibular segment; [26] in apterygotes, earwigs, and nymphal mayflies, the hypopharynx bears a pair of lateral lobes, the superlinguae (singular: superlingua ...
Ants – social insects with geniculate (elbowed) antennae and a distinctive node-like structure that forms a slender waist. Ants are of the family Formicidae and evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago, diversifying after the rise of flowering plants.
Sea spiders possess a tubular proboscis forward from the body trunk, at the end of which is the opening to the mouth. In those species that lack chelifores and palps, the proboscis is well developed and more mobile and flexible. In such cases, it can be equipped with sensory bristles and strong rasping ridges around the mouth.
Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ants are Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands. Ants thrive in moist tropical ecosystems and may exceed the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals. Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organisation and ...
Dorylus laevigatus shares the typical morphological characteristics common of all ants, including three body segments known as tagmata, a slim waist joining the second and third tagmata called the petiole, and mandibulate mouth parts located on the head for holding and breaking down food.