Insects evolved various modifications to their mouthparts, allowing for a broad exploration of feeding modes. In ants, workers perform non-reproductive tasks like excavation, food processing, and juvenile care, relying heavily on their mandibles. Given the importance of biting for ant workers and the significant mandible morphological diversity across species, it is essential to understand how mandible shape influences its mechanical responses to bite loading. We employed Finite Element Analysis to simulate biting scenarios on mandible volumetric models from 25 ant species classified in different feeding habits. We hypothesize that mandibles of predatory ants, especially trap-jaw ants, would perform better than mandibles of omnivorous species due to their necessity to subdue living prey. We defined simulations to allow only variation in mandible morphology between specimens. Our results demonstrated interspecific differences in mandible mechanical responses to biting loading. However, we found no evident differences in biting performance between the predatory and the remaining ants, and trap-jaw mandibles did not show lower stress levels than other mandibles under bite loading. These results suggest that ant feeding habit is not a robust predictor of mandible biting performance, a possible consequence of mandibles being employed as versatile tools to perform several tasks.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43944-8 | DOI Listing |
J Morphol
January 2025
Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, California, USA.
A major goal of evolutionary ecology is to understand the interaction between ecological differences and the functional morphology of organisms. Studies of this type are common among flying birds but less so in penguins. Penguins (Spheniscidae) are the most derived extant underwater flying birds using their wings for swimming and beak when foraging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Exp Biol
January 2025
College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia.
Comparative finite element analysis involves standardising aspects of models to test equivalent loading scenarios across species. However, regarding feeding biomechanics of the vertebrate skull, what is considered "equivalent" can depend on the hypothesis. Using 13 diversely-shaped skulls of marsupial bettongs and potoroos (Potoroidae), we demonstrate that scaling muscle forces to standardise specific aspects of biting mechanics can produce clearly opposing comparisons of stress or strain that are differentially suited to address specific kinds of hypotheses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Oral Health
December 2024
Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
Background: The selection guideline for the implant-supported bar connectors (ISBC) of hybrid denture is lacking. This study investigated the maximum von Mises stress (vMS), stress distribution, and displacement of various geometric ISBC in mandibular hybrid dentures, as well as the maximum principal stress (σmax) in the acrylic resin part, through finite element analysis.
Methods: Four different geometric cross-sectional patterns for mandibular ISBC-L, Y, I, and Square-of equal volume, based on the "All-on-4" concept, were created.
Stomatologiia (Mosk)
December 2024
Central Research Institute of Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery, Moscow, Russia.
The Aim Of The Study: Was to determine the possibility of calculating the parameters of the occlusal surface of fixed dentures.
Materials And Methods: An analysis of dependence between the area of the occlusal surface and the area of the support structures (tooth root/implant), between the severity of the occlusal relief (tubercles of teeth) on the length of the root/implant was carried out.
Results: The nearness of the Kurlandsky periodontal coefficients and Oksman masticatory coefficients with the calculated coefficients obtained on the basis of 3D analysis of the lateral teeth anatomy has been established.
Indian J Orthop
November 2024
Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, Fortis Hospital Mohali, Mohali, Punjab India.
Lateral meniscus posterior root tears (LMPRTs) are radial tears that occur within 10 mm of the posterior root tibial connection, also known as lateral meniscus posterior root avulsions. A common surgical approach for LMPRT (2) that contributes to positive biomechanical outcomes is independent transtibial pullout repair.(6,7,8) If this treatment is performed on people who need both LMPRT repair and ACL restoration, an extra tibial tunnel is required.
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