Agiant ant named Titanomyrma lubei, who lived ago50 million yearsand measured up to two inches, almost like a modern hummingbird,crossed the Arctic during the warmest periods on Earth, using land bridges between continents. The fossils were unearthed in the sediments of an ancient lake in Wyoming, United States. According to a team of researchers from Canada and the US, these giant ants almost always lived in hot climates.
The new species appears very similar to fossils found in Germany and the Isle of Wight in southern England, dating from the same period. “We don’t have any worker ant fossils of this new species, we only have one queen,” explains Bruce Archibald of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Although little is known about how these ants lived or what they ate, wings have been found in fossils. And a common fact: in both the fossils found in Europe and now in Wyoming, ants are located near plants that are known to thrive only in temperatures around 20 degrees centigrade.
According to the research, published in the journalProceedings Bof the Royal Society,The Eocene period, which occurred 56 to 34 million years ago, was interrupted by periods when the Earth’s temperature rose to more than it is today, probably due to the release into the atmosphere ofgreenhouse gaseslike methane. And the researchers believe thatgiant ants had to move from Europe to North America– or vice versa – during one of these “hyperthermic” periods.
The largest equivalent to this giant fossil are thewarrior ants of the genus Dorylus, found in central and eastern Africa, which can also grow up to 5 centimeters long.
