Environment

Ancient 'ant from Mars' discovered in Amazon rainforest

by LotusFlower | September 18, 2008 at 11:32 am | 105 views | 1 comment | 4 recommendations

As more and more species of plants and animals becom extinct it's heart warming that we are still finding new species - this one so strange a form of ant that it's been labelled the 'ant from Mars'.

Below is the 'alien ant' story as presented in the UK Daily Mail a less tabloid version was highlighted here yesterday by rumana husain which I've only now discovered. Great story - alien or not!

A new species of predatory insect known as the 'ant from Mars' because of its unusual alien characteristics, has been discovered in the Amazon rainforest.

The ant, Martialis heureka, is blind and lives underground and was probably a descendant of the very first ants to evolve. It is two to three millimetres long, very pale, has no eyes and a large lower jaw.