You are invited to hear the 2010 IU Animal Behavior Conference Plenary Speaker:
ROY L. CALDWELL, University of California, Berkeley
"Mantis Shrimp: Still the Fastest Claw in the West"
Friday, March 26, 2010
4:15 p.m.
IMU Alumni Hall
Abstract:
Over three hundred fifty million years ago stomatopod crustaceans, or mantis shrimp as they are commonly known, evolved from their mouth parts one of the fastest and most powerful mechanical weapons in the animal kingdom, a greatly enlarged pair of raptorial appendages. Many species possess rapier like daggers used to impale relatively unarmed prey, but other species have heavily calcified and inflated clubs that can be used to kill and process prey. Even in water, the strike of a typical 15cm long “smashing” stomatopod takes less than 2 msec and is capable of cracking the shell of the most heavily armored crabs and snails. While the raptorial appendages evolved for feeding, they also provide formidable offensive and defensive weapons that have shaped the biology of stomatopods from their mode of hunting, type of domicile and mating systems to their body armor and behavioral plasticity. This is perhaps best seen in their sensory and learning capabilities. In those species armed with the most potent weapons, there is a premium placed on acquiring and processing information about potential opponents and their fighting ability. Some groups have what is arguably the most complex eye in the animal kingdom and in conjunction with this have evolved semi-private communication systems based on ultraviolet, fluorescent and polarized signals.
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