‘It’s the global centre of diversity,’ says insect scientist who found 27 species of ant in two days in Kakadu National Park.
Alan Andersen has been collecting and recording specimens of Australian ant species for 40 years with about 8,000 of them glued to cardboard triangles in a government laboratory in Darwin in the country’s far north.
Each year hundreds of specimens are added to the collection, most of them likely new species that don’t even have formal scientific names.
When insect scientists talk about the world’s hotspot for ant diversity – the place with the highest number of species – they often point to the savannahs of Brazil and the Amazon rainforest.
But Andersen, a professor, ant expert and ecologist at Charles Darwin University, says the true global centre for ants is Australia’s monsoonal north, which stretches from the Kimberley in Western Australiato the Northern Territory’s top end and north Queensland in the east.
“Ants are a major part of Australia’s natural heritage,” Andersen says. “We realise what a special place this is for marsupials, and for lizards. And ants. We are the kingdom of the ant.”
Andersen’s latest research with colleagues has, he says, added further proof of Australia’s claim to be the global capital for ants.
The research looked at specimens of one group of ants called Monomorium nigrius that has only one species formally described in the scientific literature.
‘Kingdom of the ant’: northern Australia boasts more than 5,000 species
Alan Andersen has been collecting and recording specimens of Australian ant species for 40 years with about 8,000 of them glued to cardboard triangles in a government laboratory in Darwin in the country’s far north.
Each year hundreds of specimens are added to the collection, most of them likely new species that don’t even have formal scientific names.
When insect scientists talk about the world’s hotspot for ant diversity – the place with the highest number of species – they often point to the savannahs of Brazil and the Amazon rainforest.
But Andersen, a professor, ant expert and ecologist at Charles Darwin University, says the true global centre for ants is Australia’s monsoonal north, which stretches from the Kimberley in Western Australiato the Northern Territory’s top end and north Queensland in the east.
“Ants are a major part of Australia’s natural heritage,” Andersen says. “We realise what a special place this is for marsupials, and for lizards. And ants. We are the kingdom of the ant.”
Andersen’s latest research with colleagues has, he says, added further proof of Australia’s claim to be the global capital for ants.
The research looked at specimens of one group of ants called Monomorium nigrius that has only one species formally described in the scientific literature.
‘Kingdom of the ant’: northern Australia boasts more than 5,000 species