page_title: Mandible (insect mouthpart)
section_title: Beetles
hierarchical_section_title: Mandible (insect mouthpart) / Beetles
caption_attribution_description: Lucanus cervus, Lucane cerf-volant, photo J.F. Gaffard, Vantoux-et-Longevelle, juin 2004,
context_page_description: Insect mandibles are a pair of appendages near the insect’s mouth, and the most anterior of the three pairs of oral appendages. Their function is typically to grasp, crush, or cut the insect’s food, or to defend against predators or rivals. Insect mandibles, which appear to be evolutionarily derived from legs, move in the horizontal plane unlike those of vertebrates, which appear to be derived from gill arches and move vertically.
context_section_description: Nearly all adult beetles, and many beetle larvae, have mandibles. In general form they are similar to those of grasshoppers: hardened and tooth-like.
  Beetle mandibles show a remarkable amount of variability between species, and some are very highly adapted to the food sources or other uses that the species has for them. Certain firefly larvae (family Lampyridae) that feed on snails have grooved mandibles that not only physically break down their prey, but also deliver digestive fluids by these grooves. Ground beetles (family Carabidae) of the tribe Cychrini have long mandibles that project far in front of them, which aid them in feeding on snails inside their shells.
  Members of the stag beetle family (Lucanidae) have greatly enlarged mandibles that are often forked, resembling the horns of various deer, from which their common name comes, and similar modifications appear in various scarab beetles and longhorn beetles. Males of these beetles use their mandibles to grasp or displace each other as they compete for mates.
caption: Stag beetle with mandibles modified no longer used in feeding
exif: {}