Scientists have discovered the fossilized remains of the oldest-known ant, Vulcanidris cratensis, a winged insect with scythe-like jaws that lived around 113 million years ago during the age of dinosaurs.
Preserved in limestone from northeastern Brazil, this medium-sized ant, about half an inch long, belongs to an extinct group called hell ants, known for their fierce jaws, reports Reuters.
"It would probably be confused with a wasp by an untrained eye," said entomologist Anderson Lepeco of the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo, lead author of the study published in Current Biology. Vulcanidris had specialized jaws for pinning prey, wings for flying, and a well-developed stinger.
"They probably used their mandibles (mouthparts) to handle their prey in a specific way," Lepeco said. Unlike modern ants, Vulcanidris’ jaws moved vertically. "Currently, many odd mandible shapes can be found in ants, but they usually articulate horizontally," he added.
This fossil predates previously known ant specimens from France and Myanmar by about 13 million years. It was found decades ago in Brazil's Crato formation and donated to the São Paulo museum about five years ago.
"I was looking for wasps among the fossils of the collection and was shocked when I recognized this one as a close relative of a hell ant previously described from Burmese amber," Lepeco said.
The discovery supports molecular estimates that ants originated between 168 million and 120 million years ago. Ants, which evolved from wasps, are now among the Earth's most abundant creatures.
"They are one of the most abundant groups in most environments on Earth," Lepeco said, emphasizing their critical ecological roles, from controlling other species' populations to aiding soil health and decomposition.
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