A research paper coauthored by National Chung Hsing University’s departments of physics and entomology has found that Pericapritermes nitobei, a type of soil-feeding termite, can pounce on an enemy at speeds exceeding 400kph, faster than any known species of ant or other insect.
The research paper, titled “Termite’s Twisted Mandible Presents Fast, Powerful, and Precise Strikes,” was published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports on June 11.
The soldier termite of the species is equipped with twisted mandibles that can snap faster than any other known termite species, predatory ants or crustaceans, at 132 meters per second, which is equivalent to 475.2kph, the researchers said.
Photo courtesy of National Chung Hsing University
The snapping behavior of the insect was observed in a petri dish, using an ultra-high-speed camera to capture the action at 460,830 frames per second, they said.
The asymmetric mandibles of the species are proven to be more powerful and faster than symmetric mandibles, the paper said.
While it was hypothesized that asymmetric mandibles of soldier termites would deliver a more powerful strike than symmetric mandibles, as asymmetric mandibles can store more elastic energy, there was no supporting proof until now, it said.
Entomologists have long hypothesized that the powerful mandibular snapping of termite soldiers is a specialized defense mechanism against ants, but the defensive behavior had not been studied in termites with asymmetric mandibles, the paper said.
To observe the species’ snapping behavior against predators, soldier termites were forced to fight against worker yellow crazy ants (Anochetus taiwaniensis), Pa. javanus and minor worker African big-headed ants, it said.
To calculate exactly how fast and how strong the termites hit with their mandibles, professors Kuan Kuan-chih (關貫之) and Chiu Chun-i (邱俊禕) used ultra-high-speed cameras to record the termites hitting 0.7mm steel pellets with their mandibles.
Using the recordings and applying the principle of energy conservation, the team determined that the termites achieved a record in biological movement, with peak linear velocity of 89.7 to 132.4 meters per second within 8.68 microseconds after snapping, resulting in an impact force of 105.8 to 156.2 millinewtons, the paper said.
The calculation is a conservative estimate, as the study disregarded rotational energy of the metal pellet, although it assumed no energy loss due to friction, it added.
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