William Atkins
Wednesday, 17 September 2008 23:32
Science -
Biology
Page 2 of 3
Rabeling and fellow colleagues named the new ant species “
Martialis heureka” because American sociobiologist Edward (“Ed”) O. Wilson, who has himself discovered over 400 new ant species, described it as having an unearthly look to it.
Dr.
Ed Wilson is a professor and Curator of Entomology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
He is fondly called an “Ant Man.”
The discovery team had also earlier determined that it looked very much different from all other known ant species.
Upon researching the ant species, the Rabeling team thinks that the new species is a descendant from one of the first ant species ever to exist on Earth.
According to genetic samples taken from the recovered leg of the specimen, the species is thought to have emerged about 50 million years ago.
M. heureka lives underground but probably comes to the surface in the evenings to hunt for food.
The ant species is described physically on page three.
