B’luru scientists found 2 new ant species in Arunachal

(By S Bhuvaneshwari) Bengaluru: Entomologist from Ashoka Trust for Ecological and Environmental Research (Atree) in Bengaluru has found two new species of rare ant, from the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary (EWS) in Arunachal Pradesh.
This new discovery was published in the latest edition of the Zookeys journal, a leading taxonomic journal.
With Atree celebrating the silver Jubilee this year, one species named as Parasyscia Ganeshaaya, to honor one of its founders Prof.
K n Ganeshaiah.
He is a leading ecologist, Agricultural Scientist and Professor of Pension University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru.
Other species, the first note of the genus of ants in India, was named Syscia Indica.
ParasyScia Ganeshaiahi has a different yellowish brown body with a lot of macro puncture and fine interspaces.
Syscia indica is a blind ant with a reddish brown body and a lot of small puncture and close range.
After extensive exploration in EWS and extensive studies, the research team led by Dr.
Priyadarsanananananananananananananananananananananananan dharma rajan (senior), Asaji Punnath, Sahānashree (Atree, Bengaluru) and Dr.
Aniruddha Marathe (IISC, Bengaluru) found two species.
There are 800 ant species in India and in the last three years, Atree itself has found 30 species including many new areas in the northeastern region.