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Animals that lived before the dinosaurs looked like fat lizards with very small heads and had a semi-aquatic lifestyle like that of a hippopotamus, according to fossils recently unearthed in France. The amphibians, which represent a previously unknown genus and species of mammal ancestor, measure about 12 feet (4 meters) in length, the researchers report in the October issue of the journal. Palaeo Vertebrates , published online in July. They dub a new species Lalieudorhynchus gandi ; it lived about 265 million years ago in Pangea supercontinent, just before the era of the dinosaurs. The unusual animal fossil was first discovered in 2001 in the Lodève Basin in southern France, by study co-author and paleontologist Jörg Schneider, a professor in the Department of Paleontology and Stratigraphy at the University of Freiberg in Germany, and doctoral candidate Frank Körner. They found two large ribs, each measuring 24 inches (60 centimeters) long, in a rocky riverbed. During subsequent

Jaw-trap ants ( Odontomachus brunneus ) is a predatory insect with extraordinary jaws. They open their jaws by 180 Hi and lock it in there until they need to close it. The snap, when it happens, takes only microseconds and involves considerable force. In fact, the jaws of these ants are one of the fastest moving appendages in the animal kingdom. Ants use these jaws to electrocute or kill most of their prey, but can also release their snaps near the ground. This action ultimately propels the ant into the air, either as a kind of “jump” to aid movement, or to get the ant out of a sticky situation. When not being used to kill prey or jump to safety, the ant’s jaws can be used very carefully to greet other ants or manipulate small pieces of food. Impressed by the way trap-jaw ants use their jaws for delicate maneuvers and fierce punches, a team led by Sheila Patek at Duke University set out to investigate how these jaws work. Interesting results from this study were published in Jo