A prehistoric “hell ant” in the midst of grasping its prey with its unusual mouthparts has been found preserved in 99-million-year-old amber.
According to ScienceAlert, the frozen specimen captures the predator “actively feeding” on another insect, which is said to be an extinct relative of the cockroach. It is shown using its scythe-like jaw to pin its prey against the protruding horn-like paddle on the top of its head, acting as sort of a clamp.
While the mandibles of modern ants and almost all other living hexapods move on a horizontal axis, this new evidence indicates that hell ants used their lower mandibles to move upwards in a vertical motion as part of their predatory strategy.
“Fossilized behavior is exceedingly rare, predation especially so,” said Phillip Barden, an assistant professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, who served as the lead author on this new research, which was recently published in the Current Biology journal. “As palaeontologists, we speculate about the function of ancient adaptations using available evidence, but to see an extinct predator caught in the act of capturing its prey is invaluable.”
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This newly identified species of prehistoric ant, known as Ceratomyrmex ellenbergeri, is just one of over 12,500 different species of the insect that scientists have discovered to date, though they believe that there’s “probably another 10,000 or so” still out there, waiting to be identified in order to join the ranks of this diverse collection of complex creatures.
For more real-world discoveries and developments, check out the complete skull of the smallest known dinosaur found preserved in amber, discover the process behind resurrecting 100-million-year-old underwater lifeforms in laboratory conditions, and find out about the bionic moon jellyfish that was created by scientists earlier this year.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Preserved 'Hell Ant' Has Been Devouring It's Prey for 99 Million Years