A new species of carnivorous ant called Voledemort

Recently, we learned that a new type of snake discovered had been discovered. named after Indiana Jones, and especially after the actor who played him, Mr. Harrison Ford. Well, scientists never stop discovering little nightmarish beasts and naming them taking inspiration from the great sagas of pop culture.

You are an ant Harry

Entomologists are geeks like the others, this is what this surprising information revealed by the journal ZooKeys confirms. Indeed,  led by Dr Mark Wong,a team from the University of London. from Western Australia has just discovered a new species of antand has decided to name it after one of the key characters in the Harry Potter saga. em>:Leptanilla Voldemort.

Like the terrible sorcerer, the ant is pale, slender and lives in darkness.Dr Mark Wong and his team discovered the insect while drilling more than 25 meters deep. The scientists then slowly lowered a spinner which, on its way up, scraped the material. the walls and brings up certain specimens of the ant in question. Unfortunately, using this technique, the researchers were only able to collect 2 ants. Their goal was to The origin of finding specimens of a completely different species and the surprise was therefore total.

The ant Voldemort is a terrible predator

At first intrigued, they quickly realized that the ants had come back to their origins. The surface was strange.Compared to Other members of the ant species known as Leptanilla, the two individuals discovered have extremely slender bodies as well as much thinner antennae and legs. Like other Leptanilla ants, however, the collected Voldemort ants (yes that's a strange thing to say) are only 1 to 1 inch tall. 2 mm long, in addition to being very pale and totally blind. This last characteristic is due to the fact that, unlike Most other ants, Leptanilla, spend their entire lives underground. ” type=”image/webp”>

But the Voldemorts are still very enigmatic.While other Leptanillas live directly in the ground itself, the Voldemorts' very slender silhouette makes scientists wonder if it would be possible that these strange creatures actually live in air pockets or rock cracks. On the other hand, it seems obvious that the Voldemorts are dangerous predators, as Dr. Wong explains:

Leptanilla Voldemort is almost certainly a predator, a formidable hunter in the darkness. This is corroborated from what we know of the few observations of specialized hunting behavior in other Leptanilla ant species, where the small workers use their sharp jaws and powerful stingers to immobilize soil-dwelling centipedes much larger than themselves, before carrying their larvae to feed on the carcass. blockquote>

Pop culture at the service of science

The Harry Potter saga has captivated several generations since its creation in London. the end of the 1990s,and above all knew how to inspire well beyond the world. books or films. From now on, the emblematic characters of this saga have found their place. their place in the animal kingdom. This choice of names reflects the lasting impact of this universe and its iconic characters on popular culture.

In addition, naming species after icons from popular culture can awaken the general public's interest in science and arouse renewed enthusiasm for science. for the preservation of our natural environment. In a similar genre, but lighter, in France, it is a new species of rose which has been developed. named in homage to the author of Kaamelott, Alexandre Astier, as we told you just there.