This is a general dorsal view of holotype of new late Cretaceous worker ants Ceratomyrmex ellenbergeri. Credit: WANG Bo
Posted on 06/18/2016 2:33:15 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The vast majority of Cretaceous ants belong to stem-group Formicidae and comprise workers and reproductives of largely generalized morphologies... recent discoveries from the Cretaceous suggest relatively advanced social levels. Remarkable exceptions to this pattern of generalized morphologies are ants with bizarre mouthparts in which both female castes have modified heads and bladelike mandibles that uniquely move in a horizontal rather than vertical plane... with the mandibles apparently acting as traps triggered by sensory hairs in a way distinct from that of modern trap-jaw ants... some of the most effective predatory ants are solitary hunters with powerful trap jaws...
Dr. WANG Bo of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues describe a new bizarre ant, Ceratomyrmex ellenbergeri, from 99 million-year-old Burmese amber that displays a prominent cephalic horn and oversized, scythelike mandibles that extend high above the head. These structures presumably functioned as a highly specialized trap for large-bodied prey. The horn results from an extreme modification of the clypeus hitherto unseen among living and extinct ants, which demonstrates the presence of an exaggerated trap-jaw morphogenesis early among stem-group ants.
Together with other Cretaceous haidomyrmecine ants, the new fossil suggests that at least some of the earliest Formicidae were solitary specialist predators. In addition, it demonstrates that soon after the advent of ant societies in the Early Cretaceous, at least one lineage, the Haidomyrmecini, became adept at prey capture, independently arriving at morphological specializations that would be lost for millions of years after their disappearance near the close of the Mesozoic. The exaggerated condition in the new fossil reveals a proficiency for carriage of large-bodied prey to the exclusion of smaller, presumably easier-to-subdue prey, and highlights a more complex and diversified suite of ecological traits for the earliest ants.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
This is a general dorsal view of holotype of new late Cretaceous worker ants Ceratomyrmex ellenbergeri. Credit: WANG Bo
The ‘era’? The era/period is determined by the fossils located therein. The fossils are dated by the geological strata the are found in... Science? Looks like one of the ants we just killed in our front yard here in Florida. I thought it was summer, but it must be the cretaceous period!
Or, you could read about the difference between the ant in the Burmese amber, instead of taking your turn bashing a science article on FR.
Wow, hail ants... sounds like some tough ants, not even hail gets to them.
“given the era”
Keep in mind that 100 million years ago is the most recent fifth of the history of Insects.
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