A group of paleontologists have uncovered 10 new species of extinct mammals from thousands of tiny fossils, such as teeth or jawbones. To find the specimens, they relied on equally small helpers: ants.
The microscopic fossils came from northwestern Nebraska (USA). They are plentiful there, as well as in neighboring Wyoming and South Dakota. But finding them isn’t that easy unless you’re looking in the right places. Like the top of anthills.
For more than a century, scientists have scraped away these piles of sand and dirt in search of tiny bones in the sediment. It’s a good tactic, because ants explore the underground in search of materials (like boulders) with which to cover their mounds to strengthen them.
In 2015, an amateur fossil hunter from Nebraska noticed that there was a staggering amount of teeth and bones in the anthills on his property. So he started collecting samples and sending them to Clint Boyd, a paleontologist at the Geological Survey of North Dakota.
Since then he hasn’t stopped. The result was a collection of more than 6,000 microfossils studied by Boyd, Bill Korth, a researcher at the Rochester Museum & Science Center (New York), and other paleontologists. The study was recently published by the Rochester Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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This is the Aerial view of an anthill in Nebraska (USA). The microfossils are like this, mixed with soil, sand and small pieces of rock. Clint Boyd/Disclosure
animals found
The fossils discovered by the ants are between 33 and 35 million years old. Ten new species have been identified, such as Cedromus modicus, a relative of modern squirrels; Yoderimys massarae, the smallest member of a longextinct group of rodents called Eomyidae; and Costemiromys attasorus, a relative of modern beavers.
This is one of thousands of teeth found in Nebraska. Clint Boyd/Disclosure
It is believed that around the time these individuals colonized North America, the Earth’s climate cooled dramatically. By examining the fossils, scientists can understand the extent of mammalian diversity before and after this period — helping, for example, to predict how modernday mammals might respond to climate change.
And that was just the beginning: there are still many boxes of anthills awaiting analysis by Boyd and his colleagues. And the ants keep digging them up.
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