The Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a British scientific journal, published on May 4th that their study "Intercontinental dispersal of giant thermophilicants across the Arctic during early Eocene hyperthermals." The fossil of the winged queen ant is about 50 million years old and lived in the Eacene Epoch.
Its body is is over 5 centimeters long, which is comparable to a humming bird. The ant lived in areas that had hot climates. The researchers also looked at the habitats of the largest modern ants and found that most live in the tropics. Which they believe indicates that in order for an ant to be that large it has to live in hot climates.
During the Eocene Epoch animals and plant species migrated between Europe and North America through the Artic lands. But in order for these ants to migrate through cold temperatures they believe that global warming occured in episodes around this time allowing for the giant ants to do so. They note that also this will help them understand the impacts of global warming on life.
article: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-giant-fossil-ants-linked-global.html
I am a little grossed out that an ant could be that big and I still don't understand a lot about global warming. But this article made a lot of sense on the matter.
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