2 species of rare ant genus discovered in Kerala, Tamil Nadu

Team Udayavani, Jan 24, 2021, 3:01 PM IST

Two new species of a rare ant genus Ooceraea have been discovered in Kerala and Tamil Nadu by a team led by a Punjabi University professor.

They differ from others of the same genus on the basis of the number of antennal segments. The one found in Kerala has been named Ooceraea joshii after Professor Amitabh Joshi, a JNCASR biologist.

The two new species, the first ones spotted with ten-segmented antennae among this rare genus, were discovered by a team led by Prof. Himender Bharti of Punjabi University, Patiala. The discovery has been published in the journal ZooKeys.

The genus is currently represented by 14 species of which eight possess nine-segmented antennae, while five possess eleven- segmented antennae and one species has recently been reported with eight-segmented antennae. In India, the genus was so far represented by two species with nine- and eleven-segmented antennae respectively.