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Hairspray, meet the supersoldier ant.
This week, scientists at McGill University in Canada announced that they’ve successfully re-created an ant genus that evolved (and became more likely to be killed by household products and squashed by a small shoe) 35 to 60 million years ago.
The supersoliders, created by dabbing ant larvae of the species Pheidole morrisi with a special hormone, were classified as protectors that would guard their normal-sized ant colonies from enemy attack.
The monster-sized ants have huge heads and jaws and are about five times the size of regular soldier ants (of the species Pheidole rhea). They’re native to the southwestern United States, where they occur naturally in the wild, but only rarely.
Yeehaw!
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