鋸針蟻屬 (Odontomachus ) 隸屬蟻科針蟻亞科，棲息於熱帶和亞熱帶，為肉食性。

鋸針蟻屬具有觸發式大顎 (trap-jaw)，大顎能以極快的速度關上，以捕捉獵物或是透過反作用力彈飛自己躲避敵人。

總覽
鋸針蟻屬英文俗名trap-jaw ants ，鋸針蟻屬有一對發達的大顎，打開的角度可達180度。大顎可以透過內部的結構固定在打開的姿勢，大顎的內部生有一對用來感知的板機毛 (trigger-hair)，當獵物觸碰到板機毛 (trigger-hair) 時大顎便會快速關上，大顎強而有力，且運動速度極快，鋸針蟻屬的英文俗名便是由此而來，大顎命中獵物時會殺死或使獵物殘廢。如果大顎沒有命中目標，鋸針蟻屬可以重複地固定大顎、擊發大顎，除此之外，鋸針蟻屬也可以像其他螞蟻一樣正常開闔大顎。鋸針蟻屬也會利用大顎來擊飛敵人，或是彈飛自己以躲避敵人。

鋸針蟻屬的幼蟲外形特殊，其身體上生有長長的肉脊，且其背部生有黏著墊，可以用來黏在蟻巢的牆壁上。幼蟲為肉食性，幼蟲會蛻皮三次，幼蟲會利用其他介質結繭。

大顎運動的速度
鋸針蟻屬大顎運動的速度是動物界中第二快的，第一快的是德古拉蟻 (Mystrium camillae )。有研究指出 Odontomachus bauri  大顎運動的速度介於時速 126 ~ 230 公里。大顎關上的時間平均為 130 微秒。加速度可達 1 000 000 m/s²。

擬態
Enoplomischus 屬的跳蛛會擬態成鋸針蟻屬。

分布
鋸針蟻屬分布於中南美洲、亞洲、澳洲與非洲。有研究指出在美國「Odontomachus haematodus 1956年在阿拉巴馬州被記錄到，但近期研究者指出該物種已沿著墨西哥灣散播，最遠至佛羅里達州的彭薩科拉。」Magdalena Sorger則指出，「在過去，Odontomachus ruginodis 的分布範圍被認為侷限在奧蘭多地區，而近期有一筆 O. ruginodis 的紀錄出現在奧蘭多北邊超過100英里處，位於佛羅里達州的蓋恩斯維爾。」而 Odontomachus relictus 則只在佛羅里達中部發現，棲息於長有灌木叢的沙脊地形中。

物種

共73個現生物種，3個化石物種
 Odontomachus aciculatus F. Smith, 1863
 Odontomachus affinis Guerin-Meneville, 1844
Odontomachus alius Sorger & Zettel, 2011
Odontomachus allolabis Kempf, 1974
Odontomachus angulatus Mayr, 1866
Odontomachus animosus Smith, 1860
Odontomachus assiniensis Emery, 1892
Odontomachus banksi Forel, 1910
Odontomachus bauri Emery, 1892
Odontomachus biolleyi Forel, 1908
Odontomachus biumbonatus Brown, 1976
Odontomachus bradleyi Brown, 1976
Odontomachus brunneus (Patton, 1894)
Odontomachus caelatus Brown, 1976
Odontomachus cephalotes Smith, 1863 (Indonesia, Australia, etc.)
Odontomachus chelifer (Latreille, 1802)
Odontomachus circulus Wang, 1993
Odontomachus clarus Roger, 1861
Odontomachus coquereli Roger, 1861
Odontomachus cornutus Stitz, 1933
Odontomachus desertorum Wheeler, 1915
Odontomachus erythrocephalus Emery, 1890
Odontomachus floresensis Brown, 1976 (Indonesia: Flores)
Odontomachus fulgidus Wang, 1993
Odontomachus granatus Wang, 1993
Odontomachus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1758) (South America, introduced to Australia prior to 1876); type species
Odontomachus hastatus (Fabricius, 1804)
Odontomachus imperator Emery, 1887
Odontomachus infandus Smith, 1858
Odontomachus insularis Guérin-Méneville, 1844
Odontomachus kuroiwae (Matsumura, 1912)
Odontomachus laticeps Roger, 1861
Odontomachus latidens Mayr, 1867
Odontomachus latissimus Viehmeyer, 1914
Odontomachus malignus Smith, 1859
Odontomachus mayi Mann, 1912
Odontomachus meinerti Forel, 1905
Odontomachus minangkabau Satria, Kurushima, Herwina, Yamane & Eguchi, 2015 
Odontomachus montanus Stitz, 1925
Odontomachus monticola Emery, 1892
Odontomachus mormo Brown, 1976
Odontomachus nigriceps Smith, 1860
Odontomachus opaciventris Forel, 1899
Odontomachus opaculus Viehmeyer, 1912
†Odontomachus paleomyagra Wappler, Dlussky, Engel, Prokop & Knor, 2014
Odontomachus panamensis Forel, 1899
Odontomachus papuanus Emery, 1887
Odontomachus pararixosus Terayama & Ito, 2014
Odontomachus peruanus Stitz, 1933
Odontomachus philippinus Emery, 1893
Odontomachus procerus Emery, 1893 
†Odontomachus pseudobauri (De Andrade, 1994)
Odontomachus relictus Deyrup & Cover, 2004
Odontomachus rixosus Smith, 1857
Odontomachus ruficeps Smith, 1858 (Australia)
Odontomachus rufithorax Emery, 1911
Odontomachus ruginodis Smith, 1937
Odontomachus saevissimus Smith, 1858
Odontomachus scalptus Brown, 1978
Odontomachus schoedli Sorger & Zettel, 2011
Odontomachus scifictus Sorger & Zettel, 2011
Odontomachus silvestrii W.M. Wheeler, 1927
Odontomachus simillimus F. Smith, 1858 (Australia, Fiji, etc.)
†Odontomachus spinifer De Andrade, 1994
Odontomachus spissus Kempf, 1962
Odontomachus sumbensis Brown, 1976
Odontomachus tensus Wang, 1993
Odontomachus testaceus Emery, 1897
Odontomachus troglodytes Santschi, 1914 (Africa, Madagascar, Inner Seychelles)
 Odontomachus turneri Forel, 1900 (Australia)
Odontomachus tyrannicus Smith, 1859
Odontomachus xizangensis Wang, 1993
Odontomachus yucatecus Brown, 1976

參考資料

外部連結

 Mississippi Entomology Museum: Pictures of worker and male O. haematodus 
 Slow motion video of the ants in action 
 Mississippi Entomology Museum: Pictures of worker and male O. haematodus
 Ant's super-fast bite is a built-in 'ejector seat'
 Ferocious ants bite like a bullet  - BBC News, 21 August 2006. Elli Leadbeater. Retrieved 22 August 2006
 Man-trap jaws make ant fastest predator  - Scotsman, 22 August 2006. John Von Radowitz. Retrieved 22 August 2006

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