Imagine stumbling across the oldest ant ever discovered, not deep in a jungle or hidden under layers of rock, but sitting quietly in a museum collection. That’s exactly what happened when researcher Anderson Lepeco made a jaw-dropping finding in Brazil. This ancient insect, named ‘Vulcanidris cratensis’, dates back 113 million years, way back to when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. And this was not at all an ordinary ant. A fossil from the age of dinosaurs Vulcanidris cratensis was found preserved in limestone from Brazil’s Crato Formation, a site famous for stunning, detailed fossils.
Although the fossil was likely dug up in the 1980s or 90s, it went unnoticed until Lepeco spotted it in 2024 while searching for wasp fossils at the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo. Lepeco told CNN: I was just shocked to see that weird projection in front of this insect’s head. Turns out, what he found was much more special, the oldest confirmed ant ever known to science, beating previous ant fossils found in France and Myanmar by about 13 million years. Welcome to the world of ‘Hell Ants’ Vulcanidris cratensis isn’t just the oldest, it’s part of an ancient, extinct group called ‘Haidomyrmecinae,’ better known as ‘hell ants’. These ants had jaws unlike anything you see today, they opened up and down like a scythe, perfect for stabbing and trapping prey. Modern ants have sideways-moving jaws, so hell ants stood out. Lepeco and his team used high-tech micro-CT scanning to study the fossil’s incredible details. They discovered the ant had more wing veins, forward-projecting jaws, and a well-developed stinger, showing it was a fierce little predator that could even fly. Lepeco said: Finding such an anatomically specialized ant from 113 million years ago challenges our assumptions about how quickly these insects developed complex adaptations. Ants were older (and tougher) than we thought Before this discovery, most hell ants were known from amber fossils found across Europe, Asia, and North America.
But Vulcanidris, found in South America and preserved in rock (not amber!), shows hell ants were older, widespread, and thriving much earlier than scientists believed. Phil Barden, an expert in insect evolution, summed up the importance of the find: This new find now represents the oldest ant known; it extends the known fossil record for ants by about ten million years. It also hints that ants may have started evolving between 168 and 120 million years ago, much earlier than previously confirmed. From fierce hunters to global superstars Today, ants have conquered almost every corner of the planet. Scientists estimate there are about 20 quadrillion ants worldwide — a mind-blowing number compared to Earth’s human population of just around 8 billion.
And even though modern ants are very different from their hellish ancestors, their influence on ecosystems remains huge. A small fossil, a forgotten rock, and a careful pair of eyes have rewritten the story of one of Earth’s most successful creatures.
Vulcanidris cratensis reminds us just how long ants have been masters of survival and how much more there is to discover about their ancient past.
