Martialis: first subfamily of ants

2008/09/16 Roa Zubia, Guillermo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Eboluzioa
• Zoologia

A strange ant is found in the forests of Brazil. In the opinion of the experts, the appearance and characteristics of the ancient ants is what makes this discovery very remarkable. The ant, besides belonging to a new species, has opened a new branch of taxonomic classification. It is an unknown gender ant, which has been considered by experts as the first member of a subfamily. Being such a rare insect, entomologists have called it the ant of Mars and given it the scientific name of Martialis heureka. In evolution, ants come from wasps and, because of this, being an ant of ancestral characteristics, they expected to resemble them. In addition, it is without eyes (underground animal, therefore), with long and narrow jaws, with the pair of back legs very little developed compared to the previous ones. According to the entomologists, the place of Martialis in the group of ants is the same as that of ornithorrines among mammals.

Photo: Christian Rabeling