Ants evolved far earlier than (1) believed, as far back as 140 million to 168 million years ago -- and they have plants to (2) for their diversity, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday. Researchers at Harvard University used a genetic clock to reconstruct the history of ants, and found that the ant family (3) arose more than 40 million years (4) than previously thought. The family did not diversify into different genera and species (5) flowering plants came (6) the scene, they said. The study sheds light on one of the (7) important and numerous animals, which includes hundreds of (8) species. "We (9) that ant diversification took off (10) 100 million years ago, along with the rise of flowering plants, the angiosperms," Naomi Pierce, a professor of biology who (1
