Newly-discovered bizarre ant
Scientists have dubbed this newly-discovered ant Martialis heureka, implying that it's so weird it could have come from Mars. Found in the Brazliian rainforest, it has no eyes, and its "mouth" is like a pair of long forceps. According to University of Texas at Austin evolutionary biologist Christian Rabeling, Martialis heureka is from the oldest ant lineage still living. From Science News:
Its DNA may be even more interesting. Genetic analysis puts the new ant so far from other species that it deserves its own subfamily, Martialinae, Rabeling and his colleagues report in an upcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It’s the first new subfamily described for a living ant since 1923, the discoverers say..."Ant 'From Mars'" (ScienceNews)
“The fact that a single ant ‘rediscovered’ in the rainforests of Brazil can tell us so much about the evolution of the ants highlights how little we know about the diversity of life on the planet,” says (Corrie Moreau, ant specialist at Chicago's Field Museum.)
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I for one welcome our new insect overlords.
I had an aunt we all thought was from Mars too. Oh, wait. Never mind...
Clearly this ant holds the cure for cancer but loggers will slash the rainforest before it can be extracted and identified.
More fuel for the panspermia crowd. :D
It will be interesting to find out more about these ants and what they eat. Somebody made the discovery of a lifetime there!
s/Brazliian/Brazilian/
Nice ant, David.
Yet still no spiders from Mars...
Martialis heureka is from the oldest ant lineage still living
What exactly does that mean? Isn't every ant a descendent from the common ancestor of all ants (by definition), which can be considered the oldest ant? I guess it means it's one of the species that is least different from this ancestor. Sorry, I'm in a weird nitpicky mood. Cool weird animal (I really should learn more about cool weird bugs), and it's always good to hear my home country mentioned in an international forum regarding things other than well-executed soccer plays and posthumous misappropriation of the images of great scientists.
So where were the spiders? Is there life on Mars?
yeah, so much for that science gobbledeegook, but the article doesn't address the important issue: how does it taste covered with chocolate?
#2
Aunts are from Venus, uncles are from mars...
Hm. They only found one of these ants - how do they know it really is a newly-discovered species and not a mutated member of a species we already know about?
(disclaimer: I am more or less scientifically illiterate so am probably talking guff)
@ #7
Ok... but those older ants are probably extinct. Hence oldest living.
What the... newly discovered? If you consider 8 years ago to be new, then sure. This is old (but very interesting) stuff.
Interesting ant! I'm sure there are millions of animal and plant and insect life we are not aware of yet! I saw on NG on TV the other night these giant (300 lbs) jelly fish they have discovered in the oceans!
Looks like it only has 4 legs?
Bussi Pussi So Quit
It seems to have a lot of hair for a "Brazilian" ant.
updated link:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/36462/title/New_ant_species_found
Still, important questions remain unanswered: What do they taste like? Do they go well with tartar sauce?
taxonomists move at tektonic speed, 8 years is the blink if an eye. hey, why doesen't it have 6 legs? insects have 6, mammals have 4, uh, right?
This is what happens when the queen ant has an affair with the termite next door.
This is a great find!
Great find to myrmecology!!
Here in Tropical rain forest it´s more ease to see stuffs like that!