Mammals have developed some unusual eating habits over the past 100 million years, but a new study has uncovered the surprising lengths to which some have gone to satisfy one of the more peculiar—a taste for #ants and #termites.

Mammals independently evolved specialized adaptations for exclusively feeding on ants and termites at least 12 times since the #Cenozoic era began, roughly 66 million years ago.

The #convergent #evolution among #mammals toward this dietary strategy—called #myrmecophagy—emerged following the K-Pg #extinction and fall of non-avian dinosaurs, which reshaped ecosystems and set the stage for ant and termite colonies to rapidly expand worldwide.

Over 200 mammal #species are known to eat ants and termites today, yet only about 20 true myrmecophages—such as giant anteaters, aardvarks and pangolins—have evolved traits like long sticky tongues, specialized claws and stomachs, and reduced or missing teeth, to efficiently consume thousands of these insects daily as their sole food source.

#evolution #ecology #biology
https://phys.org/news/2025-07-mammals-evolved-ant-eaters-dinosaur.html

Vida et al. (2025):
https://academic.oup.com/evolut/article-abstract/79/10/2315/8155241

🆕Photoblog: In the accompanying blog post, Herbert Wagner shares some of his favourite photos and videos from the field concerning his latest article published in Myrmecological News.

#batesian #mimicry #aposematism #myrmecophagy #Istria #Mediterranean

https://blog.myrmecologicalnews.org/2025/07/23/lizard-feces-uncover-benefits-of-batesian-mimicry-in-camponotus-lateralis/

🆕 Original Article: 𝐶𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠 and its putative mimic 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑢𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are underrepresented in feces of ant-eating South-Alpine wall-lizards (𝑃𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑠)
Wagner, H.C

#batesian #mimicry #myrmecophagy #Istria #Mediterranean

https://myrmecologicalnews.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=1656&Itemid=444