Newly-discovered bizarre ant

David Pescovitz 4:09 pm Mon Sep 15, 2008

New Ancient
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…

“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.)

"Ant 'From Mars'" (ScienceNews)

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