In the lush terrain of Kerala's Periyar Tiger Reserve, a new ant species has been discovered, expanding the genus Ooceraea. The ant species has been named in honor of Professor Amitabh Joshi, a renowned evolutionary biologist from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Union Government of India.
The discovery of this new species adds to the diversity of the ant genus Ooceraea. What sets it apart from its genus mates is the number of antennal segments. The Ooceraea genus now consists of 14 species, with varying numbers of antennal segments. The newly discovered species, with its unique ten-segmented antennae, establishes an old world lineage in the ant subfamily. The naming of new species often follows a tradition of honoring scientists who have significantly contributed to the fields of evolutionary and organismal biology, ecology, and systematics.
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The sting of the bullet ant, found in humid rainforest environments like the Amazon, is known to be the most painful.
Ants are long-lived insects, with the queen ant of the Pogonomyrmex Owyheei species potentially living up to 30 years.
An ant can lift 50 times its own weight, making it one of the world’s strongest creatures relative to its size.
Trap jaw ants hold the speed record in the animal kingdom, clamping their jaws at 140 mph.
Ants inhabit every continent except for Antarctica.
Ants are social insects that live in colonies, with one or more egg-laying queens and numerous female worker ants.
Most ants don't have ears or eyes. They sense vibrations in the ground through their feet, and communicate using chemical signals or pheromones.
The largest ant nest ever discovered was nearly 3,700 miles wide, found in Argentina in 2000.
Prof. Amitabh Joshi: A Name to Remember
Professor Amitabh Joshi, an Indian evolutionary biologist and geneticist, is currently based at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR). He heads the Evolutionary Biology Laboratory at JNCASR and is well-known for his research in genomics and population ecology. He is a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology and a fellow of several prestigious Indian scientific academies. In 2009, he was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest scientific honors in the country, for his contributions to biological sciences.
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The ant is one of the world’s strongest creatures in relation to its size. A single ant can carry 50 times its own bodyweight, and they’ll even work together to move bigger objects as a group.
What is the largest ant?
Dinoponera contains one of the largest species of ants in the world, with female Dinoponera gigantea specimens measuring 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) in length.
What type of ant is smallest?
There are some very small ants, but they are not quite microscopic. The smallest known ant is the tiny worker of the species Carebara bruni, only eight-tenths of a millimetre long.