Recently, paleontologists are lucky to find one in the amber of another guest from the past. They became one of the earliest known ancestors of modern ants Ceratomyrmex ellenbergeri, which is 99 million years. Scientists call it “hellish” ant, and this ant hunted, landed in a drop of resin together with his prey.
If modern ants jaws move horizontally, then their distant ancestors, they, oddly enough, was moving like the jaws of a person, opening and closing from the top down. Different shape of the oral apparatus and the heads of many prehistoric insects already caused the scientists hypothesis that all of them were caught and killed prey in completely different ways. “Hell” the ant, which boasts an impressive horn growth between the antennas was pressed to his extraction due to the vertical move of the jaws – so the victim was harder to get.
Well, now researchers have direct evidence of this hypothesis. The production of ant has become nothing less than a large insect, presumably one of the relatives of modern cockroaches. Scientists believe that once the prey was in his paws, “hellish” ant struck immobilizer bite, thereby deciding the fate of his victim.
