Amber and Vampire Hell Ants
 
Remember the Dracula  movie with Bela Lugosi? If you looked into his eyes, he had hypnotic power. The lighting helped, too. Here, we look into the amber and see  Linguamyrmex vladi . Scientists got a mite creative there, that last word vladi  is based on Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad Dracul and Vlad the Impaler. He had a nasty way of dealing with enemies, and became part of the inspiration for the Dracula novel and movies.   Although nobody has any idea what the thing called a vampire hell ant  actually ate, it had some interesting vertical   trap jaw  mandibles that are similar to vertical  mandibles of ants living today. Did they grab another insect as prey, tip it like Junior's sippy cup and drink bug juice? Not all that likely, really. It may have used it to impale fresh fruit and drink that stuff down like a forerunner of the juice box. I reckon the "vampire hell ant" moniker is just a trifle hyperbolic. Gets your attention, though.      Linguamy...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
