A new species of Dracula ant discovered in Kerala

Q.  A new species of which ant has been discovered by citizen scientists in Kerala in the month of November 2015?
- Published on 05 Nov 15

a. White ant
b. Red ant
c. Dracula ant
d. None of the above

ANSWER: Dracula ant
 
A new species of the Dracula ant of the Stigmatomma group of predaceous ants has been discovered by citizen scientists in Kerala. This first photographic record of the ant was compiled by Manoj Vembayam, Kalesh Sadasivan and Vinay Krishnan, members of the TNHS Ant Research Group, a wing of the Travancore Natural History Society. This species is known as Dracula because it feeds on its own larvae at the time of scarcity and this species is known to have a hypogaeic lifestyle as predators of chilopods.Three of these ant species have earlier been discovered in WB, HP and Karnataka.

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