Sent in by William. At https://www.yahoo.com/news/fossil-fearsome-hell-ant-used-183903680.html … the fossil of a hell ant, belonging to the Cretaceous, is described as a fearsome beast. Captured in amber one can see the tusk like mandibles and horns used to hunt down prey. At the moment they are said to have only been active for 20 million years. They clearly disappeared at the K/T boundary event. Did they really only evolve just before that upheaval?
The study, in Current Biology, unveiled a fossil of a hell ant, in the act of embracing its unsuspecting victim, a cockroach. Instant fossilisation by tree resin. Presumably the ant and the cockroach were on the tree, or beneath it, when a splodge of resin fell down and squished them, preserving them in perfection. Previously, the hell ant has only been found in Cretaceous sediments, dated shortly prior to the boundary event.
Mind you, why it is called a 'hell' ant is not obvious. It seems to be doing nothing worse than other predatory creature, capturing prey to feast upon. I suppose it probably has something to do with its size – but it lived during the dinosaur era when a lot of other creatures were oversized as well. Dragon flies, for example. Either that or someone was simply averse to ants. They do have a tendency to crawl all over the place, even up the trouser leg given half a chance. They sometimes bite as well and the hell ants did have a bigger way of chomping.
Alitumwa na William. "Fossil ya ""Hell Ant"" ya Cretaceous" Katika rangi ya amber mtu aweza kuona mdomo kama vile viungo vya chini na pembe zilizotumiwa kuwinda mawindo. Kwa sasa, inakadiriwa kuwa wamekuwa wakifanya kazi kwa miaka milioni 20. Kwa wazi walitoweka katika tukio la mpaka wa K/T. Je, kweli walibadilika-badilika kabla tu ya mlipuko huo? Utafiti huo, uliochapishwa katika jarida la Current Biology, ulifunua kiumbe cha kale cha chungu wa kuzimu, akiwa amemkumbatia mhasiriwa wake asiye na shaka, yule mbawakawa. Fossilization ya papo hapo na utomvu wa mti. Yaelekea chungu na mbawakawa walikuwa juu ya mti huo au chini yake wakati mchanga wa utomvu ulipokuwa ukianguka na kuufagia, ukiwahifadhi kwa ukamilifu. Hapo awali, chungu wa kuzimu amepatikana tu katika matope ya Cretaceous, tarehe muda mfupi kabla ya tukio la mpaka. Kumbuka, kwa nini inaitwa 'hell' chungu si dhahiri. Inaonekana kwamba haifanyi jambo baya kuliko viumbe wengine wa kuwinda, kuwakamata windo ili kula. Nadhani pengine ina kitu cha kufanya na ukubwa wake <unk> lakini aliishi wakati wa enzi ya dinosaur wakati wengi wa viumbe wengine walikuwa oversized pia. Ndege wa joka, kwa mfano. Ama hivyo au mtu fulani alikataa chungu tu. Wao kuwa na mwelekeo wa kutambaa kila mahali, hata juu ya mguu wa suruali kutokana na nusu ya nafasi. Wakati mwingine wao kuumwa pia na chungu kuzimu alifanya kuwa na njia kubwa ya chomping.