{"id":2208585,"date":"2026-10-16T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T04:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2208585"},"modified":"2026-10-12T09:44:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T07:44:46","slug":"66-million-years-ago-the-dinosaurs-died-but-ants-thrived-scientists-just-figured-out-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/66-million-years-ago-the-dinosaurs-died-but-ants-thrived-scientists-just-figured-out-why\/","title":{"rendered":"66 million years ago, the dinosaurs died \u2013 but ants thrived. Scientists just figured out why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ants are the most species-rich family among social insects, with more than 15,000 species worldwide. They originated around 140 to 168 million years ago but didn\u2019t rise to ecological dominance until 66 million years ago, when an asteroid ended the age of dinosaurs. Scientists now know exactly what allowed ants to triumph after this mass extinction.<\/p>\n

The research was conducted by an international team of scientists led by Lukas Schrader from the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity at the University of Munster, Germany.\u00a0The findings are\u00a0published\u00a0in the journal\u00a0Science Advances.<\/em><\/p>\n

By analysing and comparing the genomes of 163 ant species from 12 of the 16 ant subfamilies living today, the researchers were able to reconstruct the evolutionary history of these animals over the past 100 million years.<\/p>\n

The analysis revealed that ants benefited from so-called transposable elements in their DNA, often referred to as \u2018jumping genes\u2019. These are DNA sequences that can move and replicate within a genome. For a long time, science regarded them as \u2018genomic parasites\u2019 \u2013 similar to viruses, they were thought to multiply in the genome without benefiting the host and, in the worst case, cause diseases.<\/p>\n

Now, \u2018jumping genes\u2019 are increasingly being recognised as engines of evolutionary innovation. According to the new study, those ant lineages carrying the most transposable elements in their genomes are also the most species-rich today.<\/p>\n

The researchers were able to identify independent bursts of transposable element activity in the ancestors of the largest ant groups in the early Palaeogene (about 66 million years ago), shortly before these lineages diversified into the thousands of species we know today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe asteroid impact had dramatic consequences for the environment. We have now found the genomic mechanism that connects these ecological upheavals to the subsequent rapid diversification of the ants: transposable elements,\u201d said Schrader.<\/p>\n

Similar patterns have been identified in other animal groups, with\u00a0studies\u00a0showing bursts of jumping gene activity during phases of increased speciation, for example in bats.<\/p>\n

The new study also linked jumping genes to the expansion of gene families involved in chemical communication, which is essential to the social life of ants \u2013\u00a0they navigate, recognise nestmates and coordinate colonies almost exclusively by smell.<\/p>\n

Scientists think this ability to recognise and interpret chemical signals may have been enhanced by the activity of their genomes.<\/p>\n

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This article <\/a>by Magda Patynska was first published by Discover Wildlife on 3 October 2026. Lead Image: A group of red ants. Credit: Nuoriginal2017\/Getty Images
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