113 Million-Yr-Old Fossil of ‘Hell Ant’ Found in a Chunk of Limestone Is the Oldest Known Ant Specimen Ever Identified
New findings in nature provide experts with a better understanding of biodiversity around them and its intriguing history. One of the latest findings has come from Brazil, which has given experts an insight into an extinct ant species and pushed their known trajectory in the world to new records, according to Science Alert. A study discussing this finding in detail has been published in Current Biology.
The study's subject was a tiny ant fossilized in a chunk of limestone. Examinations revealed that the specimen was 113 million years old. If the assertion is true, then the specimen represents the oldest known geological record of ants. The ant was also found to be a member of an extinct subfamily called Haidomyrmecinae. This subfamily has garnered the nickname 'hell ants ' because of the features they used to attack their prey. The group exhibited vertical mandibles, which they utilized to strike and pin down their prey.
Researchers found the specimen in a collection housed by the University of São Paulo’s Zoology Museum, according to National Geographic. The collection came from a fossil-rich stone quarry known as the Crato Formation. The team found that the fossilized ant was half an inch long and flew during its lifetime. Seeing the ant's condition, they believed the creature was dragged by something like wind to a lake, where it was then covered by sediments over millions of years. This is the first time researchers have found a hell ant fossil native to Gondwana, the prehistoric Southern Hemisphere megacontinent.
Analysis unveiled that the ant belonged to a never-before-seen species of Haidomyrmecinae, according to Live Science. Experts named it Vulcanidris cratensis, and claimed that it had upward-facing jaws, possibly for attacking prey. This feature helped researchers in connecting the newly found species with 'hell ants.' Based on the fact that the specialized feature was already present on the earliest known ant specimen, researchers suggested that evolution happened quickly in ants.
The specimen was examined using micro-computed tomography imaging by researchers, according to Science Alert. Experts found similarities between V. cratensis and other preserved 99 million-year-old 'hell ant' specimens found in Myanmar. This implies that this subfamily was widely spread across the globe by that time, much earlier than the researchers previously assumed. These specimens were protected in amber, while the one found in Brazil was inside limestone. Along with being the oldest ant specimen, this was also the first hell ant that researchers had discovered embedded in a rock impression fossil.
Researchers claim that such fossils showcase how prominent ants truly were in the past. Considering how far back they existed and how widespread they managed to become, it can be concluded that they were present in good numbers during the Cretaceous period, which has long been represented only by the magnificent creatures it hosted. "We can imagine a more complex picture of the age of dinosaurs… there were incredible insects such as hell ants living together with them, that had very specialized behaviors and anatomies," said Anderson Lepeco, entomologist at the University of São Paulo’s Zoology Museum and author of the new paper.