To say this ant was created this way, is also saying the Jehovah intentionally created the scorching desert even though we were taught that the earth was cursed with harsh conditions as a punishment for Adam and Eve's sins.
Genisis 3:14 "Then the LORD God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you
are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You
will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life."
As a kid, when I'd question inconsistencies in the literature similar to this one example of the Saharan ant, the scripture shown above was always sited as a means to show me that God may have altered living creatures after he was done with creation. This scripture shows that serpents at one time must have had legs and feet, or some other way to move about, but because Satan inhabited the body of one serpent while tempting Adam and Eve , God cursed and then altered things so that all serpents hence forth crawl upon it's belly instead of using whatever means of mobility they had originally. (as if Satan's crime was the serpent's fault)
It was obvious to me even as a kid, that people were looking for any reason to continue with the magical thinking they were taught as children or came to understand when they were at a weak and vulnerable point in their lives and needed something to cling to.