New ant species discovered from Siang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh | Parami News

From the Eastern Himalayas from Siang Valley, a new kind of ant species was recently found by researchers. Paraparatrechina neela is what the blue bug has been named; it belongs to the uncommon genus called Paraparatrechina.

Researchers from Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in Bengaluru Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan and Sahanashree R. as well as Aswaj Punnath from the University of Florida made this discovery. Their scientific description of ant is published in ZooKeys, which is a peer-reviewed journal.

According to them, it represents the first addition since Paraparatrechina aseta was described 121 years ago as a lone known non-Indian species to Paraparatrechina genus collected during an expedition to Siang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh. “Exploring above tree hole about 10 feet up on a steep cattle track, something shimmered at twilight. Two insects were aspirated under dim light available. It was later surprising that these insects turned out to be ants,” researchers revealed.

Paraparatrechina neela is described back then as having a total length less than 2mm and could be regarded as small ants overall. Predominantly metallic blue body with antennae, mandibles and legs being exceptions defines its coloration. The head possesses big eyes and is subtriangular in shape featuring mandible triangular mouthpart having five teeth. For instance, though some insects such as butterflies, beetles, bees and wasps have commonly shown blue coloration on their bodies, this feature has been relatively unusual among ants according to them; out of all 16 724 recognized kinds or subspecies worldwide only several display entirely or partially bluish tinge or iridescence.

After more than one century since Siang Valley natural history and geography had been documented by scientific team accompanying ‘Abhor expedition’, a punitive military expedition against the indigenous tribes, currently a team of ATREE researchers is resurveying and documenting its biodiversity. It was funded through National Geographic Society’s wildlife-conservation expedition grant. To date, ATREE’s entomologists have discovered in this region one new subfamily, six new genera and over 40 new insect species belonging to parasitic wasps, ants or beetles.

“Unprecedented threats” are what Siang Valley of being a biodiversity hotspot is facing according to Dr Rajan. “The valley has been changing rapidly due to large-scale infrastructure projects such as dams, highways and military installations coupled with climate change. These mountains play an important role not only in maintaining their diverse ecosystems but also ensuring that millions of people living below them remain safe,” he added.