KOTA KINABALU: A newly discovered species of ant from the genus Syscia has been discovered in Sabah.
It has been named after senior lecturer Dr Yek Sze Huei (Zoe) from Universiti Malaysia Sabah's (UMS) Institute of Tropical Biology and Conservation.
Syscia yekzoeae, which establishes colonies in soil and rotting wood, was discovered last year during fieldwork at Kawang Forest Reserve in south-western Papar district.
According to a UMS statement on Monday (Dec 23), the new ant species is an obligate predator of other ant species.
The queens are flightless and have small, non-functioning wings, UMS said.
The findings were published this month in the journal Asian Myrmecology which also identified two other species of ants, Syscia sabahna and Ooceraea magna, both from the state's Crocker mountain range.
S. sabahna is more widespread and has also been found at Poring and Tambuyukon in Kinabalu Park and Tawau Hills Park.
Both species also inhabit rotting wood and soil like S. yekzoeae.
The institute has a long history of ant research since its founding in 1996 and these discoveries only highlight that the diversity of ants in Borneo still needs to be fully understood, the UMS statement read.
Dr Yek and her team are confident that with more fieldwork and research, more species of ants new to science will be found in Sabah.
The statement said one co-author of the journal report, Seiki Yamane, an emeritus professor with Japan's Kagoshima University, played a role in the taxonomic analysis and description of S. yekzoeae.
Another co-author, researcher Riou Mizuno from Japan's Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, conducted laboratory-rearing observations and specimen photography.
Worker S. yekzoea
Male S. yekzoeae
Queen S. yekzoeae dorsal view
