Thursday 23 May 2013

Weird Pirate Ant Comes With an 'Eye Patch'

by LiveScience Staff
Date: 21 May 2013 Time: 02:39 PM ET

Scientists have discovered a strangely patterned new insect in the Philippines, dubbing it the pirate ant because of a dark stripe over its eyes that makes it look like it's wearing an eye patch.
Cardiocondyla pirata. Credit: Bernhard Seifert

The formal name of the newfound creature is Cardiocondyla pirata, and belongs to a group of species that are found from Thailand across the whole Indonesian-Malaysian region.

"On a collection trip to the Philippines we looked for different species of the genus Cardiocondyla that is known for its astonishing morphological and behavioral diversity of male ants," Sabine Frohschammer, a doctoral student at Germany's Universität Regensburg, said in a statement.

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