Posted on 04/25/2025 7:03:00 PM PDT by Red Badger
Ants are among the most familiar insects on Earth today, but their origins remain cloaked in deep evolutionary history. Until now, the oldest known ant specimens came from amber deposits in France and Myanmar, dating to the Cretaceous period around 100 million years ago.
But a new discovery—published recently in the journal Current Biology—pushes that timeline back even further.
“Our team has discovered a new fossil ant species representing the earliest undisputable geological record of ants,” said lead author Anderson Lepeco in a recent statement. “What makes this discovery particularly interesting is that it belongs to the extinct ‘hell ant,’ known for their bizarre predatory adaptations.”
Discovering the Most Ancient Ant Fossil
Scientists from the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil have uncovered a fossilized ant preserved in limestone from northeastern Brazil’s Crato Formation. The ant is a newly identified species of hell ant—an extinct and highly specialized subfamily known for its terrifying scythe-like jaws and unique predatory adaptations.
At 113 million years old, this fossil not only rewrites the ant family tree—it reshapes what experts thought they knew about how quickly ants evolved specialized features and spread across ancient landscapes.
From Museum Shelves to Micro-CT Scans
The fossil was found not in the field, but during a careful review of one of the world’s largest insect fossil collections, stored at the Museu de Zoologia. The Crato Formation, where the specimen originates, is known for its exceptional fossil preservation, making it a treasure trove for paleontologists.
“When I encountered this extraordinary specimen, we immediately recognized its significance—not only as a new species but as potentially the definitive evidence of ants in the Crato Formation,” Lepeco said. “This finding highlights the importance of thorough examination of existing collections—private or in museums—and brings a spotlight to Brazilian paleontology and the underexplored fossil insect fauna of the country.”
To study the ant in detail, the team turned to micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). This cutting-edge X-ray imaging technique allows scientists to view internal and external features in three dimensions without damaging the fossil. These scans revealed astonishing anatomical detail, along with a few evolutionary surprises.
“Even though there have been hell ants described from amber, this was the first time we could visualize this in a rock fossil,” Lepeco explained.
A reconstruction of the microCT scan of the hell ant. PC: Odair M. Meira
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Rethinking Insect Evolution and Ancient Ecosystems
The discovery of this insect in South America adds new weight to the theory that ants were already widely distributed and ecologically diverse during the Cretaceous period. More strikingly, the fossil shows that even at this early stage, some ants had already developed highly specialized anatomy for hunting.
“While we expected to find hell ant features, we were shocked by the characteristics of its feeding apparatus,” said Lepeco. “Finding such an anatomically specialized ant from 113 million years ago challenges our assumptions about how quickly these insects developed complex adaptations.”
Unlike modern ants, which use side-moving jaws, this hell ant had vertically moving mandibles that extended forward and a facial projection used to pin or impale prey—an evolutionary design unlike anything seen in living species.
The research also offers a broader lesson in paleontology: fossils hidden in museum drawers may still be able to change our understanding of life on Earth.
As Lepeco puts it, “This finding underscores how much we still have to learn—not just from new fieldwork, but from the careful reexamination of fossils already in our hands.”
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is a freelance science journalist and staff writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with her on BlueSky or contact her via email at kenna@thedebrief.org
Them! Them!
I had ants that big in my back yard in New Mexico. Not to mention 5 inch long centipedes, black widows with dime-sized abdomens, and those tarantula hawk wasps that were like 3” long. It was the Pleistocene era at my house.
I recognized that right away...I’m so old.
I hope they never find any of its DNA. They will re-created it.
What it shows is that ants were always ants with no evolution. In the technical link you gave one of the subheadings is “Novel evidence for the early diversification of ants” - in other words, they just appear fully formed and diversified. This is the norm for all branches of life as seen in the fossil record, contrary to what the media try to portray.
You and me both!...................
Same with termites.
Now we call them Tren de Aragua...
50 feet long? no way, from BipolarBobs live action photo I would guess maybe 8 feet max.
I think most, if not all, ants have a winged version in their life cycle.
A-a-a-g-h-hhh! THEM!!!
I was engaging in a bit of hyperbole. These articles make it sound like these creatures were like something out of a 50s horror movie, but in reality they’re about the same size as creatures living today.
“Make me a Sergeant and gimmee the booze!”
(Them b/w age scifi movie reference)
Laugh, I know and was only joking, and was actually just agreeing with you, the article didn’t seem to mention the ‘prehistoric’ size, so we are free to speculate these were giant ‘Land of the Lost’ ants battling dinosaurs for their dinner in the forbidden city of the sleestaks.
Flies, fleas, ants, ticks, mosquitoes, cockroaches, lawyers and politicians. Nuke them all.
Correction- send them all to space and depressurize the capsule because they would survive a nuke.
So a 410 shotgun should do the trick ?
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