Science
Scientists discover amber tomb that shows a prehistoric “hell ant” killing its prey with bizarre jaws that look like the Grim Reaper’s scythe – CBS News
A “hell ant” some 99 million years ago used its scythe-like jaws to trap a baby roach for its next meal — but then the pair got stuck in sap and were preserved for scientists to discover centuries later.
A 99-million-year-old amber fossil preserving a deadly encounter between two insects has proven what scientists long suspected about some of the Earth’s first ants. The insect’s ancestors had a deadly weapon in place of modern pincers — vertical jaws that looked like the Grim Reaper’s scythe that were used to pin prey against a horn on their heads so that it was easier to keep ahold of their meal.
The discovery was published Thursday in the scientific journal “Current Biology.”
The fossil was …
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