Unique 'œAnt from Mars' species discovered in Amazon rainforest

William Atkins
Wednesday, 17 September 2008 22:32

Science - Biology

The new ant species M. heureka has a long, pale body (about 0.08 inch (2 millimeters) long), with segmented front legs and long, thin, extended forceps-like mandibles that are thought to be used to entrap and drag its prey, probably soft-bodied animals such as the termite larvae.

The species is blind, with no physical features (eyes) for vision.

The conclusions of the discovery were written in the September 15, 2008 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Its title is “Newly discovered sister lineage sheds light on early ant evolution.”

Its authors include Christian Rabeling (Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, U.S.A.), Jeremy M. Brown (Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Texas, Austin, U.S.A.), and Manfred Verhaagh (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Germany).

They conclude in the abstract to their paper, “On the basis of morphological and phylogenetic evidence we suggest that these specialized subterranean predators are the sole surviving representatives of a highly divergent lineage that arose near the dawn of ant diversification and have persisted in ecologically stable environments like tropical soils over great spans of time.”

Further news about the ant is found on the College of Natural Sciences, University of Texas website "Oldest Living Lineage of Ants Discovered in the Amazon."