It might be time for 2020 to give up. First there were the killer hornets and then there were the nuclear mice. Now scientists have discovered the terrible ‘helmet’. Fortunately, the helmet ant has been extinct for more than 99 million years, so we do not have to worry about it coming to town any time soon, unless these scientists decide to Jurassic Park experiment and bring it back to life. With that said, the prehistoric insect was discovered in amber while the prey was still being mishandled.
When most people think of amber and scientific discoveries, they think of the mosquito from Jurassic Park. The mosquito in its resting form looks completely normal and non-threatening, which is the complete opposite of the moth, which has an extinct relative of the cockroach in its grip. Scientists say it is the first time they have witnessed the newly discovered species, aka Ceratomyrmex ellenbergeri. “Fossilized behavior is very rare, predation especially so,” says Phillip Barden, who studies social insect evolution at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
The helmet has a “shear-like” mouth that looks like it could do some major damage. As far as ants are concerned, the “helmet ant” is actually just a drop in the bucket, along with the recently discovered nuclear cannibal ants. Scientists believe that they have so far found more than 12,500 different species of ants and think that there are at least 10,000 more that still need to be discovered and studied. Not one of the ants running on earth at the moment looks like the mysterious helmet.
The new half ants were found in amber deposits from Myanmar, Canada, and France. The mouths of these particular ants “are different from those of almost all insects that live today.” The helmet Ant “used his lower mandible to go up and pin his prey to the horny paddle above.” Other types of helmets have this horn as well, but scientists were not sure where it was used until now. Phillip Barden went on to say, “As paleontologists, we speculate about the function of ancient adaptations using available evidence, but to see an extinct predator caught in the act of capturing its prey is invaluable.”
The mouth on the helmet ant is believed to have been a step in the evolutionary process. Phillip Barden notes, “This fossil reveals the mechanism behind what we might call an ‘evolutionary experiment’, and although we see several such experiments in the fossil record, we often have no clear picture of the evolutionary path that leads to them. “Now they do, thanks to the horrible helmet that a prehistoric relative of the cockroach eats. It is believed that the half ants did not move their heads very well, which means that they probably caught most of their prey while sitting down. 2020 has delivered some amazing goods, but the half ants are right there with the strangest. Fortunately, they are extinct. This news was originally reported by Science Alert.
