Scientists at The University of Western Australia have actually found a new species of ant named Leptanilla voldemort, inspired by a Harry Potter character. Credit: Mark K. L. Wong, Jane M. McRaeNew research performed by the University of Western Australia has actually discovered a new species of subterranean ant that shares some characteristics with a popular Harry Potter villain. The research study, published in Zookeys, describes the new types Leptanilla voldemort as a pale ant with a slim develop, spindly legs, and long, sharp mandibles.Lead scientist Dr Mark Wong, a Forrest Fellow from UWAs School of Biological Sciences, said its name (L. voldemort for short) admired the dark wizard Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series.” The terrifying villain in Harry Potter and the ant both have a ghostly and slim appearance, and live in the shadows,” Dr Wong said.Discovery and HabitatThe ant was discovered in an ecological survey that recorded animals living listed below ground in the arid Pilbara region in the north of Western Australia.” Only 2 specimens of the brand-new ant species were discovered, and both were collected in a net reduced down a 25-meter (82 feet) drill hole and recovered by scraping against the holes inner surface,” he said.There are more than 14,000 species of ants worldwide, but just about 60 of these belong to the genus Leptanilla.” Unlike the majority of ants, types of Leptanilla reside in small nests, typically making up a queen and just a hundred or so workers, and nest and forage exclusively underground,” Dr Wong said. “Adapting to life in darkness, Leptanilla employees are blind, without pigmentation, and step between simply one to 2 millimeters– very little larger than a grain of sand– allowing them to move effortlessly through the soil.” The two people of Leptanilla voldemort gathered in Pilbara. Credit: Mark K. L. Wong, Jane M. McRaeAustralia has one of the greatest levels of ant diversity on the planet– estimates range from 1,300 to more than 5,000 types– but L. voldemort is only the second Leptanilla species found on the continent.” From what we understand from the few observations of other Leptanilla types, and the extremely specialized, sharp mandibles of L. voldemort, this brand-new types is nearly certainly a predator, a terrifying hunter in the dark,” Dr. Wong stated. “While the precise victim of L. voldemort stays unclear, other Leptanilla species are understood to utilize their sharp jaws and powerful stings to debilitate soil-dwelling centipedes much larger than themselves, before bring their larvae over to eat the carcass.” Reference: “Leptanilla voldemort sp. nov., a gracile new types of the hypogaeic ant genus Leptanilla (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Pilbara, with a key to Australian Leptanilla” by Mark K. L. Wong and Jane M. McRae, 11 April 2024, ZooKeys.DOI: 10.3897/ zookeys.1197.114072.