A 113-million-year-old hell ant that once lived in northeastern Brazil is now the oldest ant specimen known to science, finds a report published in Current Biology. The hell ant, which was preserved in limestone, is a member of Haidomyrmecinae—an extinct subfamily that only lived during the Cretaceous period. These ants had highly specialized, scythe-like jaws that they likely used to pin or impale prey.
Current ants are bad enough. Glad we don’t have to deal with hell ants!