Researchers have discovered
a new species of
ant in the Western
Ghats. It has
been found
in the Periyar
Tiger Reserve.
The
research, published
in journal
Zootaxa, has been undertaken
by Kalesh Sadasivan
and Manoj Kripakaran,
members of the non-governmental
organisation
Travancore Natural History
Society’s Ant Research
Group.
Belonging to Tyrannomyrmex,
a rare tropical
genus of ants, the species
was discovered by the
team from the Vallakadavu
range a year ago.
Paying
tribute to their mentor and
eminent myrmecologist
Musthak Ali, who is regarded
as the country’s
‘ant man’, the authors
of the study
have named
the new species Tyrannomyrmex
alii
(or T. alii) Sadasivan
and Kripakaran 2017.
According to Dr. Sadasivan,
Tyrannomyrmex is a rare
myrmicine ant genus that
is distributed in the Indomalayan
bioregion that
extends from southern India
and Sri Lanka to southeast
Asia.
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