New ant species to be named after late Johor prince
JOHOR BAHRU: The Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar has consented to name the Echinopla new ant species discovered by Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) as Echinopla Tunku-Abduljalilii.
UTHM Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology, Centre of Research on Sustainable Uses of Natural Resources (CoR-SUNR) head, Prof Datin Dr Maryati Mohamed said the new species from the Echinopla group, were collected from shrubs found in the Sungai Bantang Forest Reserve, near Labis, in May last year.
“There are 15 species from the Echinopla family in Malaysia and this new species is the 16th and the second species to be found in Johor.
The first, the Echinopla wardi was discovered in Kota Tinggi.
“This species measures 5.48 millimetre in length and is black in colour. The body of most other Echinopla species are furry unlike this new Echinopla species which is without fur,” she said in a statement, here yesterday.
She said the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (IZCN), an international body that rules the scientific naming of new species, would issue a statement to confirm the name of the new species as Echinopla Tunku-Abduljalilii.
To date there are 16,000 species of ants that have been scientifically named. About 33 species belonging to the Echinopla family are found in Australia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, India and Malaysia. - Bernama