Voldemort in Australia: A new species of ants is named after a character from the film

Voldemort in Australia/ZooKeys

In Australia, researchers discovered a new species of underground ants. They were named Leptanilla voldemort in honor of the antagonist from the series of books about Harry Potter – Lord Voldemort.

This is written by the scientific magazine ZooKeys, transmitted by Radio Maximum.

Scientists from the University of Western Australians found insects at a depth of 25 meters in the vicinity of the city of Newman. The researchers drilled a hole in the soil, lowered the net to the bottom and slowly pulled it out. So it was possible to find several ants of a new species.

Ants Leptanilla voldemortare small in size (about 1.5 mm long), elongated limbs, antennae and jaws, as well as a pale yellowish color and the absence of eyes. Moreover, this is only the second case when the genus Leptanilla was found in Australia – it is considered very rare.

Voldemort in Australia/ZooKeys

These ants do not rise to the surface and spend all their time in complete darkness. They are predators, mainly feeding on underground invertebrates, primarily geophiles – they use their sharp jaws for this.

Leptanilla voldemort is almost certainly a predator, a terrible hunter in the dark. This is supported by what we know from the few observations of the hunting behavior of other species of Leptanilla ants, said study co-author Mark Wong.

He said that Leptanilla ants are able to immobilize much larger centipedes in order to feed on them. .

In addition, adults drink the hemolymph of larvae of their own species. All this reminded researchers of the dark wizard Voldemort from the Harry Potter universe.

Voldemort/Frame from the movie “Harry Potter”