Giant Ant Fossil, Titanomyrma lubei, Found in Wyoming
By Marhgil Macuha on May 5, 2011 in Archaelogy, Science • No comments |
A fossil of a giant ant was found in a 49.5-million-year-old Wyoming rock, several science news sites reported on Wednesday.
According to reports, the fossil is of a winged ant queen, having the size of a hummingbird. The new species, Titanomyrma lubei, was said to be related to the giant ants found in German fossils.
Giant Ant Fossil – Hummingbird size comparison
Credit: Bruce Archibald / BBC News
The newly found species was said to be very similar to fossils found in the Isle of Wight in southern England and in Germany dating from the same period.
“We don’t have any [fossils of] workers from this new species, we only have a queen,” Bruce Archibald from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia reportedly said.
“It would have been very impressive – the one in Germany was estimated to have a body weighing as much as a wren, and this would have been of similar size,” Archibald was quoted saying by the BBC News.
It was reported that the fossils were unearthed in an ancient lake sediments in Wyoming.
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