Paleoentomologist Bruce Archibald has identified a Wyoming fossil as a "monstrously big ant." How big? About the size of a two-inch hummingbird, as you can see above. So, yes, "monstrously big."

The fossil had been "sitting in a drawer at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science" until Archibald came upon it; the scientist, who works at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, "immediately recognized it" as a giant ant similar to species of monster ants discovered in Germany. "The burning question," LiveScience asks, "was how giant ants ended up on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean." (That's the burning question for paleoentomologists. For us, the burning question is, how can we be sure we never, ever, ever have to see that thing in real life.)

The monstrous ant has been christened Titanomyrma lubei, which means "big ant," more or less. It is probably not the grossest thing to have ever lived in Wyoming, but it must be pretty close.

[LiveScience]