A fossil discovered in a Brazilian museum collection has revealed the oldest ant species known to science, dating back 113 million years. The prehistoric ant lived among dinosaurs and had scythe-like jaws that it likely used to pin or impale prey. The discovery sheds light on how ants evolved during the early Cretaceous period and offers insight into unusual features in ant species from this time.
The fossil, named Vulcanidris cratensis, is a member of the Haidomyrmecinae subfamily, which lived between 66 million and 45 million years ago. The discovery was made by Anderson Lepeco, a researcher at the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo, who found the fossil in September 2024 while examining a collection of fossilized insects.
The museum has one of the world’s largest collections of fossilized insects, and the Crato Formation in northeastern Brazil is renowned for its exceptional fossil preservation. The fossil was preserved in limestone and had anatomical features that were unusual compared to modern ants. Its jaws were scythe-like, running parallel to its head and projecting forward from near the eyes.
The discovery suggests that ants were already widely distributed across the planet at an early point in their evolution. It also offers insight into how ants evolved during this time period and what features may have been lost to time. The study’s findings have significant implications for our understanding of ant evolution and the fossil record.
According to Phil Barden, an associate professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology who studies insect evolution, the discovery is a “pretty big deal” because it extends the known fossil record for ants by about ten million years. The finding also highlights the common ancestry between ants and wasps, with features such as wing veins that are similar to those of living wasps.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/extraordinary-fossil-reveals-oldest-ant-183938197.html