Latest news with #Vulcanidriscratensis
Yomiuri Shimbun
16-05-2025
- Science
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Oldest-known Ant Fossil Found in Brazil Preserved in Limestone
Anderson Lepeco / Current Biology / Handout via Reuters A 113-million-year-old fossilized ant preserved in limestone unearthed in northeastern Brazil is seen in this photo released on April 24. Scientists have identified the fossilized remains of the oldest-known ant — a winged insect with fearsome scythe-like jaws that lived about 113 million years ago during the age of dinosaurs and was preserved in limestone unearthed in northeastern Brazil. The species, called Vulcanidris cratensis, is part of a lineage called hell ants — named for their demonic-looking jaws — that prospered in a wide geographical range during the Cretaceous Period but have no descendants alive today. A previously discovered Cretaceous hell ant was named Haidomyrmex in honor of Hades, the ancient Greek god of the underworld. A medium-sized ant about 1.35 centimeters long, Vulcanidris possessed highly specialized jaws that would have enabled it to pin down or impale prey. Like some ants alive today, it had wings and appears to have been a capable flier. It also had a well-developed stinger like a wasp. '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 Sao Paulo, lead author of the study published last month in the journal Current Biology. 'They probably used their mandibles (mouthparts) to handle their prey in a specific way,' Lepeco said. Its mandibles moved up and down and not side to side, as they do in today's ants. 'Currently, many odd mandible shapes can be found in ants, but they usually articulate horizontally,' Lepeco said. This ant is roughly 13 million years older than the previous oldest-known ants, specimens found in France and Myanmar that were preserved in amber, which is fossilized tree sap. The Vulcanidris anatomy is remarkably well preserved in the limestone, which was excavated decades ago in the Crato geological formation in the Brazilian state of Ceara, probably in the 1980s or 1990s, according to Lepeco. It was held in a private collection before being donated to the Sao 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, referring to the fossil from Myanmar. The specialized nature of the Vulcanidris anatomy and the fact that two hell ants lived so far from each other during this part of the Cretaceous suggest that ants as a group emerged many millions of years before this newly identified species existed. 'According to molecular estimates, ants originated between 168 million and 120 million years ago. This new finding supports an earlier age within these limits,' Lepeco said. Ants are believed to have evolved from a form of wasp. Their closest living relatives are wasps and bees. Vulcanidris inhabited an ecosystem teeming with life. Fossils from the region show that Vulcanidris lived alongside other insects, spiders, millipedes, centipedes, various crustaceans, turtles, crocodilians, flying reptiles called pterosaurs, birds and dinosaurs including the feathered meat-eater Ubirajara. The ant's predators may have included frogs, birds, spiders and larger insects. Ants have colonized almost everywhere on Earth, and research published in 2022 estimated that their total population is 20 quadrillion globally. That dwarfs the human population of about 8 billion. 'They are one of the most abundant groups in most environments on Earth,' Lepeco said. 'They play many roles where they occur, such as predation and herbivory, controlling populations of other organisms. They also have intrinsic relationships with specific plants and insects, protecting them from other animals. Subterranean and litter ants help in soil health, and they may also act as decomposers, feeding on dead organisms,' Lepeco said.
Asharq Al-Awsat
27-04-2025
- Science
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Oldest-known Ant Preserved in 113 Million-year-old Brazilian Fossil
Scientists have identified the fossilized remains of the oldest-known ant - a winged insect with fearsome scythe-like jaws that lived about 113 million years ago during the age of dinosaurs and was preserved in limestone unearthed in northeastern Brazil. The species, called Vulcanidris cratensis, is part of a lineage called hell ants - named for their demonic-looking jaws - that prospered in a wide geographical range during the Cretaceous Period but have no descendants alive today, Reuters reported. A previously discovered Cretaceous hell ant was named Haidomyrmex in honor of Hades, the ancient Greek god of the underworld. A medium-sized ant about a half-inch (1.35 cm) long, Vulcanidris possessed highly specialized jaws that would have enabled it to pin down or impale prey. Like some ants alive today, it had wings and appears to have been a capable flier. It also had a well-developed stinger like a wasp. "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 this week in the journal Current Biology. "They probably used their mandibles (mouthparts) to handle their prey in a specific way," Lepeco said. Its mandibles moved up and down and not side to side, as they do in today's ants. "Currently, many odd mandible shapes can be found in ants, but they usually articulate horizontally," Lepeco said. This ant is roughly 13 million years older than the previous oldest-known ants, specimens found in France and Myanmar that were preserved in amber, which is fossilized tree sap. The Vulcanidris anatomy is remarkably well preserved in the limestone, which was excavated decades ago in the Crato geological formation in the Brazilian state of Ceará, probably in the 1980s or 1990s, according to Lepeco. It was held in a private collection before being 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, referring to the fossil from Myanmar. The specialized nature of the Vulcanidris anatomy and the fact that two hell ants lived so far from each other during this part of the Cretaceous suggest that ants as a group emerged many millions of years before this newly identified species existed. "According to molecular estimates, ants originated between 168 million and 120 million years ago. This new finding supports an earlier age within these limits," Lepeco said. Ants are believed to have evolved from a form of wasp. Their closest living relatives are wasps and bees. Vulcanidris inhabited an ecosystem teeming with life. Fossils from the region show that Vulcanidris lived alongside other insects, spiders, millipedes, centipedes, various crustaceans, turtles, crocodilians, flying reptiles called pterosaurs, birds and dinosaurs including the feathered meat-eater Ubirajara. The ant's predators may have included frogs, birds, spiders and larger insects. Ants have colonized almost everywhere on Earth, and research published in 2022 estimated that their total population is 20 quadrillion globally. That dwarfs the human population of about 8 billion. "They are one of the most abundant groups in most environments on Earth," Lepeco said. "They play many roles where they occur, such as predation and herbivory, controlling populations of other organisms. They also have intrinsic relationships with specific plants and insects, protecting them from other animals. Subterranean and litter ants help in soil health, and they may also act as decomposers, feeding on dead organisms," Lepeco said.
Time of India
25-04-2025
- Science
- Time of India
113-million-year-old ‘hell ant' is the oldest ever found, scientists say
Credit: X An overlooked fossil in a Brazilian museum has now been identified as the oldest known ant specimen, dating back 113 million years. This discovery has been published in the journal Current Biology. The fossil, named Vulcanidris Cratensis, was reportedly found in the Crato Formation of northeastern Brazil, a site which is well renowned for its well-preserved fossils. Anderson Lepeco, a researcher at the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo, stumbled upon the specimen in September 2024 while examining the museum's collection. "I was just shocked to see that weird projection in front of this (insect's) head," Lepeco told CNN. This ancient ant belongs to the extinct subfamily Haidomyrmecinae , commonly referred to as "hell ants." As per reports, these ants are characterized by their scythe-like jaws, which served as a way to impale a prey. Unlike the previous hell ant fossils found in Myanmar, this one was preserved in rock which made it a rare find. Credit: X/@Extinct_AnimaIs The discovery suggests that ants were already widespread during the early Cretaceous period. Phil Barden, an associate professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology who studies insect evolution, commented on the significance of the find. "This new find now represents the oldest ant known; it extends the known fossil record for ants by about ten million years," Barden said via email to CNN. Micro-computed tomography imaging revealed that Vulcanidris cratensis had anatomical features linking it to wasps, indicating a common ancestry. Its wings had more veins than those of modern ants, and its jaws projected forward from near the eyes, functioning like a "forklift" to capture prey, according to Lepeco. Credit: X/@Extinct_AnimaIs The fossil's preservation in rock, rather than amber, provides a unique opportunity to study the morphology of early ants. This discovery pushes the timeline of evolution of ant. In the modern world, ants are among the most abundant insects on Earth, found on every continent except Antarctica. However, they evolved approximately 145 million years ago, diverging from ancestors shared with wasps and bees. The discovery of Vulcanidris Cratensis sheds light on the early diversification of ants and their role during the age of dinosaurs. It emphasizes the importance of museum collections in uncovering significant paleontological findings.
