It’s been known by everyone that ants get out from their nest every day in search of food, but this conventional concept would not be applicable for all ant species anymore. Scientists found a new species of silky ant named Sericomyrmex Radioheadi that can grow their own diet by farming fungi. The newly discovered ant species is named in the honor of famous music band Radiohead.
A research team from Smithsonian Institution's Ant Lab in Washington DC has collected a wide range of silky ant from Central and South America to analyze their characteristics through DNA sequencing and morphology. Among those species, the Sericomyrmex Radiohead was caught from Venezuelan region of Amazon.
In the paper, published in the journal of ZooKeys researchers described that Silky Radiohead ants are the closest relative of famous leaf-cutter ants. Lead researcher Ana Ješovnik said,“We wanted to honor their music. But more importantly, we wanted to acknowledge the conservation efforts of the band members, especially in raising climate-change awareness”.
While working on the Radiohead specimen under scanning electron microscope, researchers found a white, crystal-like layer covering the bodies of the ants. However, that unknown layer was only present in females that include both queens and workers, but it was totally absent in male ants. According to Mail Online, the chemical composition and functionality of both genders are still unknown to scientists.
Ješovnik assumed that the purpose of the layer is to protect them parasites while gardening. The study says, the layer mainly consists of microbes, Radiohead ants produce antibiotic-producing bacteria in their body to protect their garden from the spores of microbial weeds. They keep their garden totally parasite free and they don’t need any pesticides or fertilizers, so their protective crystal may give any clues in human agriculture to protect crops from parasites or diseases.
In the calendar of evolution, Sericomyrmex Radioheadi is only four million years old which makes them one of the fastest evolving species in the world. Even they have evolved faster than the freshwater fishes in Africa, and the Hawaiian fruit flies.
