A 110-million-year-old fossil of an ancient ant species discovered in Brazil is rewriting the history of ants’ evolution. The fossil, identified as Vulcanidris cratensis, provides conclusive evidence that the first ants emerged on the supercontinent of Gondwana in the southern hemisphere over 113 million years ago.
According to Anderson Lepeco, a researcher at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, the fossil was found in a large collection delivered to the university’s zoological museum. The specimens were from the Crato Formation in north-east Brazil, which dates back to the Lower Cretaceous Period. Lepeco initially suspected that the fossil belonged to an extinct group of insects called hell ants due to its unique head shape.
Hell ants are notable for representing a transitional “stem lineage” between ants and their wasp-like ancestors. Although they have since become extinct, they shared ant-like social structures with modern ants. The 3D scanning of the fossil revealed characteristics that further confirmed it as a hell ant, including forklift-like mandibles.
The discovery of Vulcanidris cratensis has significant implications for our understanding of ants’ evolution. It suggests that the earliest known ancestors of modern ants originated in the southern hemisphere and dispersed to other parts of the world before establishing their dominant ecological role today.
This finding aligns with genomic evidence, which previously suggested that ants first evolved in the southern hemisphere before spreading globally. The discovery provides a crucial link between these ancient and modern ant lineages, shedding new light on the history of one of the most successful and widespread groups of insects on Earth.
Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2477845-oldest-ant-fossil-ever-found-shows-how-ants-took-over-the-world