This article talks about how a fossil of a giant ant has been found for the first time in North America. The same sort of fossils were found previously found in Europe and these giant ants have been said to have lived 50 million years ago. This winged queen ant was found and collected in the Green River Formation in Wyoming and some scientists believe that it is a new species. The giant ant is about the same size and mass of a small bird such as the hummingbird seen in the picture above. Bruce Archibald, a Simon Fraser University researcher, identified the ant and has said, "It's pretty impressive." Archibald, a specialist in fossils of insects, is leading the research project on the ant. Archibald has realized that the fossil closely resembles a giant ant species that lived in Germany during the Early Eocene period. This new North American species has been named Titanomyrma lubei. The fact that the ant fossils have been found in different continents shows that during the period in which these ant lied they must have found a way to travel from Europe to North America and back.
Personally, I find the fact that there used to be giant ants is rather scary. I can just imagine coming face to face with one of those things which would probably result in me running away as fast as I possibly could. It was said in the article that during the time that these ants lived the earth was in a tropical climate, which means it was very warm all around the world. This could explain how the ants traveled between North America and Europe. It could have been hot enough that the ocean could have been dried up enough to leave a pathway between continents. Another way to explain this travel is the fact that these giant ants had wings. For all we know the ants could have been able to fly around for days at a time. Overall though, I think the world is a better place with these giant ants extinct.
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