Thursday, 6 August 2020
Researchers find ancient ‘Hell Ant’ frozen in time, locked in battle
- Researchers have discovered an insect that lived nearly 100 million years ago encased in amber.
- The so-called "Hell Ant" had vertical jaws that it used to pin its prey against its horn-covered head.
- The incredible specimen is locked in battle and frozen in time with its prey in its jaws.
There are a seemingly countless number of different ant species on Earth today. They range from mundane and unthreatening to incredibly aggressive and even potentially deadly. Nearly 100 million years ago, ants roamed the Earth just like they do today, and researchers just found a specimen of one species that reveals how appropriate its nickname "Hell Ant" really is.
In a chunk of fossilized tree sap, called amber, a hell ant is seen locked in a battle with another ancient insect. Already known to science, the hell ant's head is particularly unusual. Rather than a pair of jaws situated horizontally as with most modern ants, the hell ant had a massive vertical jaw that we now know it used to snag its prey and slam them into spikes situated on its forehead.
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Researchers find ancient ‘Hell Ant’ frozen in time, locked in battle originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 6 Aug 2020 at 17:16:15 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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