Mandible (arthropod)

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Mandible (arthropod)

In arthropods, the mandible is either of a pair of arthropod

Arthropod

Arthropods are animals belonging to the Scientific classification Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others....
mouthparts

Mouthparts

The mouthparts of arthropods have evolution into a number of forms, each adaptation to a different style or mode of feeding. Most mouthparts represent modified, paired appendages, which in ancestral forms would have appeared more like legs than mouthparts....
used for biting, cutting and holding food. Mandibles are often simply referred to as jaws. The arthropods with mandibles form the clade

Clade

A clade is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.The term "monophyletic group" is used in this article in the conventional sense of "an a...
Mandibulata, comprising the extant subphyla Myriapoda

Myriapoda

Myriapoda is a subphylum of arthropods containing millipedes, centipedes, and others. The group contains 13,000 species, all of which are terrestrial animal ....
, Crustacea

Crustacean

Crustaceans are a large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles....
and Hexapoda

Hexapoda

The subphylum Hexapoda constitutes the largest grouping of arthropods and includes the insects as well as three much smaller groups of wingless arthropods: Collembola, Protura, and Diplura ....
. Mandibulata is currently believed to be the sister group to the rest of arthropods, the clade Arachnomorpha

Arachnomorpha

Arachnomorpha Lameere 1890 is a subdivision or clade of Arthropoda, containing the monophyletic group formed by the Trilobita and other great appendage arthropods or trilobite-like families Arachnomorpha are considered the sister group to the crustaceans, which are increasingly being accepted as members of the mandibulate clade ....
(Chelicerata

Chelicerata

The subphylum Chelicerata constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda, and includes horseshoe crabs, scorpions, spiders and mites....
+Trilobita

Trilobite

Trilobites are extinction marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. They appeared in the Early Cambrian period and flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before beginning a drawn-out decline to extinction when, during the Late Devonian extinction, all trilobite orders, with the sole exception of Proetida, died out....
). The mandibulates constitute the largest and most varied arthropod group.

Unlike the chelicerae

Chelicerae

The Chelicerae are mouth parts of the Chelicerata, an arthropod subphylum that includes arachnids, Merostomata , and Pycnogonida . Chelicerae are pointed appendages which are used to grasp food, and are found in place of the chewing mandibles most other arthropods have....
of arachnid

Arachnid

Arachnids are a class of Arthropod invertebrate animals in the subphylum Chelicerata. All arachnids have eight legs, but some exceptions are of some species having the first pair legs convert to sensory function and harvest mite larvae have only 3 pairs of legs....
s, mandibles can often be used to chew food.

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Encyclopedia

In arthropods, the mandible is either of a pair of arthropod

Arthropod

Arthropods are animals belonging to the Scientific classification Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others....
mouthparts

Mouthparts

Clade

Myriapoda

Myriapoda is a subphylum of arthropods containing millipedes, centipedes, and others. The group contains 13,000 species, all of which are terrestrial animal ....
, Crustacea

Crustacean

Hexapoda

Arachnomorpha

Chelicerata

The subphylum Chelicerata constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda, and includes horseshoe crabs, scorpions, spiders and mites....
+Trilobita

Trilobite

Chelicerae

Arachnid

Antenna (biology)

Antennae are paired appendages connected to the front-most morphogenesis of arthropods. In crustaceans, they are biramous and present on the first two segments of the head, with the smaller pair known as antennules....
, and also by having three distinct body regions: head, thorax

Thorax

The thorax is a division of an animal's body that lies between the head and the abdomen.In mammals, the thorax is the region of the body formed by the sternum, the thoracic vertebrae and the ribs....
and abdomen (the prosoma of chelicerates is not a fusion of head and thorax, although often called a cephalothorax

Cephalothorax

The cephalothorax is an Anatomy term used in arachnids and malacostracan crustaceans for the first major body section. The remainder of the body is the abdomen , which may also bear lateral appendages as well as the tail, if present....
).

Insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s

Insect mandibles are as diverse in form as their food. For instance, grasshopper

Grasshopper

Grasshoppers are insects of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish them from Tettigoniidae, they are sometimes referred to as short-horned grasshoppers....
s and many other plant-eating insects have sharp-edged mandibles that move side to side. Most butterflies and moths

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
lack mandibles as they mainly feed on nectar from flowers.

Queen bee

Queen bee

The term queen bee is typically used to refer to an adult, mated female that lives in a honey bee colony or hive; she is usually the mother of all the bees in the hive....
s have mandibles with sharp cutting teeth unlike worker bee

Worker bee

A Worker bee is any female eusocial bee that lacks the full reproductive capacity of the colony's queen bee; under most circumstances, this is correlated to an increase in certain non-reproductive activities relative to a queen, as well....
s, who have toothless jaws. Male dobsonflies

Dobsonfly

The name dobsonfly refers to insects of the subfamily Corydalinae, part of the megalopteran family Corydalidae. The Dobsonfly is also referred to as "The King Bug," because of its kingly features and intimidating tusks....
have slender mandibles up to 2.5 cm long, half as long as the insect's body. Potter wasp

Potter wasp

Potter wasps are a cosmopolitan wasp group presently treated as a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae....
s use their mandibles to mix droplets of water with clay while constructing a nest.

Ant
Ant

Ants are Eusociality insects of the family Formicidae, and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolution from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and Evolutionary radiation after the rise of flowering plants....
s

Ants have long, broad, serrated jaws, used for digging, collecting food, fighting and cutting, and are probably the most important work tool ants possess. Ants typically bite each other when fighting. Some ants use mandibles to injure the enemy and squirt poison into the wound. Harvester ant

Harvester ant

Ants known as Harvester ants include:species*Red harvester ant *Pogonomyrmex maricopa, the most venomous insect in the world.genus*Pogonomyrmex...
s use their mandibles to collect and carry seeds. Army ant

Army ant

The name army ant is applied to over 200 ant species, in different lineages, due to their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", in which huge numbers of ants all forage simultaneously over a certain area, attacking prey :wikt:en masse....
s have sharp mandibles that are better adapted for fighting than obtaining food or nursing the larva

Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e. Carpenter ant

Carpenter ant

Carpenter ants are large ants Indigenous to many parts of the world. They prefer dead, damp wood in which to build nests. Sometimes carpenter ants will hollow out sections of trees....
s make their nests in various wooden structures, which they hollow out with their sharp mandibles.

Beetle
Beetle

Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera , which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms....
s

The shape and size of beetle mandibles varies from species to species depending on the food preferences. For example, carnivorous

Carnivore

A carnivore , meaning 'meat eater' , is any animal with a diet consisting mainly of meat, whether it comes from animals living or dead .In a more general sense, an animal may be considered a carnivore if it prefers feeding on animal matter over plant matter....
beetles have extended mandibles to seize or crush prey. Tiger beetle

Tiger beetle

The tiger beetles are a large group of beetles known for their predatory habits. Some tiger beetles can run at a speed of 5 mph. For its size it has been suggested that they are technically the fastest running land animals....
s' mandibles (similar to the piercing canine teeth of tigers) are well adapted for killing prey. Diving beetle

Dytiscidae

Dytiscidae – based on the Greek dytikos , "able to dive" – are the predaceous diving beetles, a Family of water beetles. They are about 25 mm long on average, though there is much variation between species....
and firefly

Firefly

Lampyridae is a family of insects in the beetle order Coleoptera. They are winged beetles, and commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs for their conspicuous crepuscular use of bioluminescence to attract mates or prey....
larvae have hollow mandibles which can inject digestive fluid to liquefy

Liquification

In physics, to liquefy means to turn something into the liquid state.Liquification can be a change from a gas to a liquid through condense, usually by cooling, or a change from a solid to a liquid through melting, usually by heating or by grinding and blending with another liquid to induce solution....
the tissues of the prey. When this process is over, they suck the digested tissue through the mandibles.

The antler

Antler

Antlers are the usually large and complex horn -like appendages of most deer species, mostly worn by males in true horns. Each antler grows from an attachment point on the skull called a pedicle....
like jaws of stag beetles are essentially their namesake trait. In some tropical species they can be up to 10 cm, as long as the body of the beetle. These mandibles are primarily used in combat.

Butterflies and moths

Caterpillar

Caterpillars are the larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly phytophagous in food habit, with some species being entomophagous....
s use sharp mandibles to cut leaves in side-to-side motions. Only a few moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
s have functional mandibles in the adult stage. The most notable example are members of the family Micropterigidae

Micropterigidae

Micropterigoidea is the superfamily of "mandibulate archaic moths", all placed in the single family Micropterigidae, containing currently 12 living genera....
, small moths with toothed mandibles used for chewing pollen

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of Gametophyte , which produce the male gametes of spermatophyta. A hard coat covering the pollen grain protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens of the flower to the pistil of the next flower....
grains, lacking even the most rudimentary proboscis

Proboscis

In general, a proboscis is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate..The correct Greek plural is proboscides, but in English it is more common to simply add -es, forming proboscises....
.

Myriapods
Myriapoda

Myriapoda is a subphylum of arthropods containing millipedes, centipedes, and others. The group contains 13,000 species, all of which are terrestrial animal ....

Centipede

For information about the old arcade game, see Centipede .Centipedes are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda and the Subphylum Myriapoda....
s have strong, bristly mandibles which have a row of teeth in all centipedes except for members of the order Geophilomorpha. Millipedes have small mandibles which are their only functioning mouthparts, as the maxillae

Maxilla (arthropod)

In certain arthropods, the maxillae are paired mouthparts located behind the Mandible . While the mandibles are used for biting or cutting food, the maxillae are used for swallowing....
are fused to the lower lip (labium).

Crustacean
Crustacean

Crustaceans are a large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles....
s

Crustaceans have a pair of mandibles that typically consist of an enlarged basal segment (coxa) and a palp (sensory feeler) consisting of all other segments. In some groups, such as the Branchiopoda

Branchiopoda

Branchiopoda is a group of primitive and primarily fresh water crustaceans, mostly resembling shrimp. There are over 900 known species worldwide....
, the palp is reduced or absent. Crustacean mandibles may be equipped with special teeth (molar and incisor processes).

Mandible (arthropod)

InsectInsectInsects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....s

BeetleBeetleBeetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera , which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms....s

Butterflies and moths

MyriapodsMyriapodaMyriapoda is a subphylum of arthropods containing millipedes, centipedes, and others. The group contains 13,000 species, all of which are terrestrial animal ....

CrustaceanCrustaceanCrustaceans are a large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles....s

See also

Insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s

Beetle
Beetle

Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera , which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms....
s

Myriapods
Myriapoda

Myriapoda is a subphylum of arthropods containing millipedes, centipedes, and others. The group contains 13,000 species, all of which are terrestrial animal ....

Crustacean
Crustacean

Crustaceans are a large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles....
s