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Amber with ant fossilised while catching prey


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Some 99 million years ago an ant unlike any alive today was in the midst of a savage scythe-jawed attack when dripping plant resin froze the insect, along with its prey, in a final predatory tableau.

Now, new research based on this amber-tinted window into the Cretaceous confirms that so-called “hell ants” made a killing with the help of recurved mandibles that swung upward.

The hunk of amber containing this ancient drama was first unearthed in 2017 in Myanmar.

The particular hell ant locked inside this fossilized amber is Ceratomyrmex ellenbergeri and its prey, which has its head smashed between the ant’s jaws, is a cockroach-relative called Caputoraptor elegans.

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Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/amber-fossil-shows-hell-ant-was-unlike-anything-alive-today-180975522/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=socialmedia

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River

oh wow damn it so perfect

So sploosh your juice all over me you Riverboy
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Pablo

This is really cool but also creepy. Wouldn't want that ant around me 

Don't visit my profile
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3 hours ago, Pablo said:

This is really cool but also creepy. Wouldn't want that ant around me 

Given that all species of hell ant died out 65 million years ago, you are safe. :enigma:

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