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Ambush predators examples1/16/2024 ![]() ![]() The garter snake, Thamnophis rufipunctatus, ambushes prey from a hiding place by producing a rapid scissor strike that may drive water into the mouth and increase the chances of capturing prey ( Alfaro, 2002). Upon striking, aquatic ambush predators must effectively manipulate their strikes so as not to push water, and therefore the prey, out of the range of attack. Alternatively, some ambush predators, such as copepods that sit motionlessly in the water column to prevent detection by the prey ( Kiørboe et al., 2010), are known to locate prey using hydrodynamic cues, which they then exploit to precisely time attacks ( Jiang and Paffenhöfer, 2008). Some ambush predators, including snakes, fish and insects ( Daniels, 1982 Cooper et al., 1985 Bailey, 1986 Formanowicz and Brodie, 1988 Alfaro, 2002 Bilcke et al., 2006 Hulbert et al., 2006 Ostrand et al., 2004 Sano and Kurokura, 2011) orient their bodies toward the prey so that they can strike quickly and accurately, while also minimizing disturbance to the water around them. In an aquatic environment, ambush predators must overcome challenges imposed by the density and viscosity of water. Here, we addressed basic questions about the mechanics, scaling and variation of aquatic ambush strikes in mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda). ![]() The morphological and kinematic strategies of ambush predators have been well studied in terrestrial animals, including the burst locomotion of lizards ( Casatti and Castro, 2006 Miles et al., 2007 McBrayer and Wylie, 2009), the protrusible tongues of frogs (reviewed in van Leeuwen et al., 2000), the prey-capture appendages of the praying mantis ( Corrette, 1990), and web building in spiders to facilitate ambush predation ( Riechert and Luczak, 1982), but few studies have examined ambush predation in aquatic systems. These strategies enable ambush predators to capture highly mobile prey that move within their striking distance, as opposed to foraging for sedentary prey, which are often consumed by widely foraging predators ( Huey and Pianka, 1981 Greef and Whiting, 2000 Scharf et al., 2006). To achieve these goals, ambush predators use three strategies to capture prey: (1) concealment through burrows or camouflage, (2) quick traverse of a potentially large distance to prey and (3) rapid attack to impact prey before escape. The predator must avoid detection ( Bailey, 1986 Kral et al., 2000 Bilcke et al., 2006 Eskew et al., 2009), attain high accelerations and speeds ( Cooper et al., 1985 Alfaro, 2002 reviewed in McBrayer and Wylie, 2009), and retain some control over strike kinematics ( van Leeuwen et al., 2000 Deban et al., 2001). Although counterintuitive, these findings suggest that ambush predators do not actually need to produce extremely high speeds, and that the very fastest predators are using speed to achieve other mechanical feats, such as producing large impact forces.Īmbush predators minimize the distance between themselves and their prey over short time scales ( Pianka, 1966 Huey et al., 1984 Webb, 1984 Garland and Losos, 1994 Miles et al., 2007 McBrayer and Wylie, 2009). Nonetheless, the strikes of spearers occurred at similar speeds and durations to those of other aquatic predators of evasive prey. We expected ambush predators to strike with very high speeds, yet instead we found that these spearing mantis shrimp struck more slowly and with longer durations than smashers. maculata ambushed evasive prey primarily at night while hidden in burrows, striking with both long and short durations compared with laboratory videos. vicina consistently engages the elastic mechanism. Micro-computed tomography and dissections showed that both species have the spring and latch structures that are used in other species for producing a spring-loaded strike however, kinematic analyses indicated that only A. Using two species with dramatically different adult sizes, we found that strikes produced by the diminutive species, Alachosquilla vicina, were faster (mean peak speed 5.72☐.91 m s –1 mean duration 3.26☐.41 ms) than the strikes produced by the large species, Lysiosquillina maculata (mean peak speed 2.30☐.85 m s –1 mean duration 24.98☙.68 ms). Here, we examined the kinematics, morphology and field behavior of spearing mantis shrimp and compared them with previously studied smashers. ![]() Spearers hide in sandy burrows and capture evasive prey, whereas smashers search for prey away from their burrows and typically hammer hard-shelled, sedentary prey. Mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda) consist of both ambush predators (‘spearers’) and foragers (‘smashers’). Ambush predation is characterized by an animal scanning the environment from a concealed position and then rapidly executing a surprise attack. ![]()
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