Army Ants Have Defied Evolution For 100 Million Years

The common scientific belief has been that army ants originated separately on several continents over millions of years. Now it is found there was no evolution. Using fossil data and the tools of a genetics detective, a Cornell University entomologist has discovered that these ants come from the same point of origin, because since the reign of the dinosaurs, about 100 million years ago, army ants in essence have not changed a bit.

"Biologists have wondered why army ants, whose queens can't fly or get caught up by the wind, are yet so similar around the world. Army ants have evolved only once and that was in the mid-Cretaceous period," says Sean Brady, a Cornell postdoctoral researcher in entomology, whose study was conducted while he was doctoral candidate at the University of California-Davis.

Click here.

I would say that rather than defying evolution, the army ant has simply reached evolutionary perfection. Like the roach.

Damned bugs.

Thanks to J. Orlin Grabbe.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$