New species of ant discovered in Amazon
Scientists have found a new species of ant in the Amazon
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Tuesday, 16, Sep 2008 09:11
Scientists claim a new species of ant discovered in the Amazonian rainforest is likely to be a descendant of the very first ants to evolve.
The blind, subterranean Martialis heureka ant was discovered by University of Texas at Austin evolutionary biologist Christian Rabeling and has a combination of characteristics never before recorded.
Presenting his findings in a report published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences today, Mr Rabeling claims the ant belongs to its own new subfamily, one of 21 subfamilies in ants.
It is the first time that a new subfamily of ants with living species has been discovered since 1923. Mr Rabeling found the only known specimen of the new ant species in 2003 in Manaus, Brazil.
"This discovery hints at a wealth of species, possibly of great evolutionary importance, still hidden in the soils of the remaining rainforests," Mr Rabeling writes.
"This discovery lends support to the idea that blind subterranean predator ants arose at the dawn of ant evolution."
Today's report claims that the ancestor of the new ant may have been wasp-like, perhaps similar to the Cretaceous amber fossil Sphecomyrma, which is widely recognised as the missing link between wasps and ants.
"The new ant species is hidden in environmentally stable tropical soils with potentially less competition from other ants and in a relatively stable microclimate," Mr Rabeling added.
"It could represent a 'relict' species that retained some ancestral morphological characteristics."