A study of 163 ant species suggests that mobile DNA—often called “jumping genes”—may have helped ants diversify after the end-Cretaceous extinction about 66 million years ago. The researchers found historical bursts of this DNA activity in ancestors of major ant groups and links between mobile DNA, species-rich lineages, and genes involved in chemical communication. The findings offer a possible evolutionary mechanism, not proof that jumping genes alone made ants thrive.
What the study found
In a paper titled “Transposable Elements as Evolutionary Catalysts of Ant Macrodiversity,” Lukas Schrader and colleagues compared genomes from 163 ant species, representing 12 of the 16 extant ant subfamilies. They reconstructed transposable-element histories across approximately 100 million years. The University of Münster announced the study on September 24, 2026; it was published in Science Advances, 12(39) (2026), DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aee0306. University of Münster study announcement.
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The team reports independent bursts of transposable-element activity in ancestors of major ant groups around the early Paleogene, after the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. It also reports that ant lineages with more transposable elements tend to be the most species-rich today. The comparisons cover a substantial range of ants, but not every living ant species or subfamily.
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Transposable elements, or TEs, are DNA sequences that can move or make copies of themselves within a genome. Their activity can alter where genetic material sits and contribute to genomic change. In this study, the researchers reconstructed past TE activity from modern genomes; they did not observe ancient ants or their behavior directly.
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How mobile DNA might have helped ants
A possible connection to ecological change
The authors propose that environmental upheaval following the end-Cretaceous extinction created opportunities for new animal lineages, and that bursts of TE activity may have contributed to ants’ later diversification. Their study connects reconstructed timing and present-day genomic patterns to that hypothesis. It does not establish that the extinction triggered the bursts, or that TE activity by itself caused ants’ success.
A possible connection to chemical communication
The team also links TEs to the expansion of gene families involved in chemical communication, particularly odorant receptors. Ants use chemical cues to navigate, recognize nestmates, and coordinate colony life, so changes in the genetic toolkit for detecting odors could plausibly matter to their biology. The reported link does not show that TEs directly produced particular social behaviors.
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What the evidence does—and does not—show
- Reported patterns: the study identifies reconstructed TE activity bursts in ancestors of major ant groups and an association between TE abundance and species-rich lineages.
- Authors’ interpretation: those patterns may connect genomic change with ants’ diversification after a major ecological upheaval.
- Not established by the available account: a direct causal chain from the extinction, through TE activity, to ant ecological dominance or specific colony behaviors. The institutional summary does not give the full statistical tests, uncertainty estimates, or detailed alternative explanations.
Schrader described TEs as “the genomic mechanism that connects these ecological upheavals to the subsequent rapid diversification of the ants.” That is the study lead’s interpretation of the findings, rather than a settled demonstration that one mechanism explains the outcome. The university reports that more than 15,000 ant species live worldwide; the study’s 163-species sample is a comparative window into that diversity, not a census of it. University of Münster announcement and figures.
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Why this changes the story of ants after the extinction
The finding adds a genomic hypothesis to the familiar ecological story: ants were among the lineages that diversified in the aftermath of the asteroid impact, but they were not the only possible beneficiaries, and their rise was not inevitable. The study suggests that mobile DNA may have contributed to the evolutionary variation behind ant diversification, including changes in chemical sensing. More detailed evidence is needed to establish how much that mechanism mattered relative to other causes.
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