A Cretaceous "hell ant" was preserved in amber as it was killing a baby cockroach - Salon

A hell ant, or haidomyrmecine, is a relative of modern ants but with a critical difference: Instead of horizontal pincers that bite their prey, the hell ant had vertical jaws that resemble a scythe, which would pin its intended meals against a horn on their heads.

"Hell ants are one of the earliest branches of the ant tree of life and their lineage arose prior to the most recent common ancestor of all living species," Phillip Barden, lead author of the study and an assistant professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology's Department of Biological Sciences, told Salon by email.

That is, no modern ants possess horns of any kind or mandibles specialized in this particular way." He also elaborated on what the ancient cockroach ancestor — which was a juvenile at the time it was devoured — must have experienced being preyed upon by the hell ant.

"The prey would have been essentially collared around the neck by the elongate horn and mandibles of the hell ant before most likely receiving an immobilizing sting," Barden told Salon.

"We think hell ants may have had very fast muscle movements, something we see in some modern ant predators, so the hell ant mandibles may have snapped closed in a very quick flash.".