Giant Ant Fossil Unearthed: Big Pic
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May 4, 2011 -- A giant ant the size of a small bird may seem like something out of a B-movie horror plot. But 50 million years ago, this ant roamed the world.
Known as Titanomyrma lubei, the ant measured about five centimeters (two inches) in length and is one of the largest ants ever to exist. More importantly, this insect could shed light on how climate change affected the distribution of life during the early Eocene, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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Although little is known about the ant in terms of its diet and behavior, what's most surprising is the fact that this winged ant queen was discovered in sediments of an ancient lake in Wyoming. However, this ant was thought to exist only in tropical regions.
Temperatures were much higher during the Eocene, especially during short periods of global warming known as "hyperthermals." The continents also did not appear the same as they do today. Europe and North America were once connected through a land bridge that ran through the Arctic.
Scientists now believe that these ants exploited these warming periods to migrate from Europe, which once had a much more tropical climate, to North America. Understanding how these kinds of species migrated during ancient warming events will be of increasing importance as climate change once again takes hold, co-author Bruce Archibald of Simon Frasier University told Physorg.
Photo credit: Bruce Archibald
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