A nearly overlooked fossil discovered in a Brazilian museum collection has revealed the oldest ant specimen known to science, according to a new study.
The prehistoric ant lived among dinosaurs 113 million years ago — several million years before previously found fossilized ants — and it had an unusual way of killing its prey. Anderson Lepeco, a researcher at the University of Sao Paulo's Museum of Zoology, said he came across the "extraordinary" specimen in September 2024 while examining a fossil collection housed at the University of Sao Paulo's Museum of Zoology.
The museum has one of the world's largest collections of fossilized insects and features specimens from the Crato Formation of northeastern Brazil, a geological deposit known for its exceptional preservation of fossils. CNN.
Preserved in limestone, the newly described extinct insect is what is known as a hell ant, a member of a subfamily called Haidomyrmecinae that lived during the Cretaceous period between 66 million and 145 million years ago and is not related to any ants alive today, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Biology. The fossil species, which has been named Vulcanidris cratensis, had scythe-like jaws that it likely used to pin down prey.
Claude Magnani