Bengaluru scientists discover 2 new ant species in Arunachal

(By S Bhuvaneshwari)
BENGALURU: Entomologists from Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in Bengaluru have discovered two new species of rare ants, from Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary (EWS) in Arunachal Pradesh. This new discovery was published in the latest issue of the journal ZooKeys, a leading taxonomy journals.
With ATREE celebrating its silver jubilee this year, one species is named as Parasyscia ganeshaiahi, in honour of one of its founders prof K N Ganeshaiah.He is an eminent ecologist, agricultural scientist and retired professor of University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru. The other species, the first record of that ant genus in India, was named as Syscia indica.
Parasyscia ganeshaiahi has a distinct yellowish brown body with numerous macro punctures and smooth interspaces. Syscia indica is a blind ant with a reddish-brown coloured body and numerous small, closely-spaced punctures.
After extensive exploration in the EWS and extensive studies, a team of researchers led by Dr Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan (senior fellow), Aswaj Punnath, Sahanashree (ATREE, Bengaluru) and Dr Aniruddha Marathe (IISc, Bengaluru) found the two species.
There are 800 species of ants in India and in the last three years, ATREE alone has found 30 species including many new in northeastern region.