A recent study published in the journal Current Biology has shed new light on the evolution of ants. The researchers focused on stem ants that were preserved in 77-million-year-old amber from North Carolina. The analysis suggests that all of the nearly 16,000 species of modern ants have a common extinct ancestor.
These ancient ants share similarities with their modern counterparts, indicating that their distinctive body structure has remained consistent over 100 million years of evolution. This is a remarkable finding, as other animals typically show differences in body structures between ancient and modern species. However, ants have maintained a consistent appearance across millions of years, suggesting that their body structure is capable of persisting across changing ecological niches and extinction events.
The study also indicates that modern ants once coexisted with their ancient ant relatives during various periods in history. This phenomenon known as faunal turnover, where ancient and modern species overlap, occurred despite other species facing extinction during the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event. Unlike other species, ants managed to survive and maintain their distinctive body structure over millions of years.
Despite the mysteries surrounding their survival, ants have demonstrated longevity and persistence over hundreds of millions of years of history. It is unclear why ants underwent faunal turnover while other species did not, but it is possible that this phenomenon may have occurred more often than mass extinctions among insects and arthropods. Overall, this research provides valuable insights into the evolutionary history of one of Earth’s most successful groups of organisms: the ants.
