There Was a Brutal Prehistoric "Hell Ant"

Instead of a mouth, the hell ant had blades and a metal horn. Learn more about this prehistoric creature on BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, brain
Stuff is Christian Sager. Here, fire ants, carpenter ants, bull ants.
There are a lot of ant species that can cause
a great deal of harm. The worst one alive today,
according to the Guinness World Records, is the bulldog aunt.

(00:22):
It has killed at least three humans, some within fifteen minutes.
But perhaps the worst aunt ever was the hell aunt,
a prehistoric insect that was recently discovered encased in a
chunk of Myanmar amber dating to the Late Cretaceous period.
Evolutionary biologist Philip Barden of the New Jersey Institute of

(00:44):
Technology and his team wrote about the hell aunt discovery
in the journal Systemic Entomology. The hell aunt got its
name from its anatomy and behavior. Instead of having a
typical mouth, the hell aunt had blade that stuck upward,
think like tusks, plus a horn that was reinforced with metal.

(01:06):
Scientists don't know for sure how the hell ant used
its unusual appendages, but they have some theories. First, it
seems clear that the ants tusks and horn were mainly
used for catching prey. So here's one possible m O
when it came to finding dinner. When a tasty insect
passed nearby, the hell ance jaw tusks would flip the

(01:28):
insect up and onto its horn, impaling it. Spearing prey
does take a toll, though, which is probably why the
hell ants horn was clad with metal. And if that
isn't gruesome enough, researchers say this prehistoric insect might have
had some vampire like tendencies to When the ants snagged
its prey, its tusk like jaws clothes to form a gutter,

(01:51):
which may have been a means of funneling the insects
blood right down into the ant's gullet. The hell ants
scientific known as Lingua mirmes vlady, was discovered in a
chunk of amber that was nine million years old. Although
it's unusual appendages were likely used to catch its food,

(02:12):
researchers say they may have occasionally been used defensively. This
is not the only insects sporting metal either. Some present
day termite species actually have zinc and manganese in their mandibles. However,
there are no modern ants similarly equipped. Today's episode was

(02:37):
written by Melanie rad Zeki McManus, produced by Tristan McNeil
and for more on this and other topics. Please visit
us at how stuff works dot com.