Got a tip? Send it to us at manila@coconuts.co.
Don’t take ants for granted — they may be your ticket to fame.
In case you you didn’t know yet, scientists from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Museum of Natural History and the Philippine National Museum have discovered a new species of ant at Cleopatra’s Needle in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.
The findings of myrmecologists David Emmanuel M. General and Perry Archival C. Buenavente were published in the India-based journal HALTERES (Vol 6, 2015, pp. 56-62).
(You learn something new everyday: We had to look up the word “myrmecology” because we didn’t know what it meant. It turns out that a branch of entomology that specializes in the study of ants.)
General and Buenavente have named the newly discovered ant as Romblonella coryae sp. n. in honor of former president Corazon Aquino.
The two scientists explained their name choice in a statement released via UPLB. General stated, “People in Palawan have been grateful to the late President for Republic Act No. 7611 or the Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan Act of 1992,” He pointed out that the law “has served as the framework of Palawan’s government agencies in formulating plans, programs and projects affecting the province’s environment and natural resources.”
In fact, General and Buenavente were volunteering for the Centre for Sustainability and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development when they chanced upon the ants.
Photo: David Emmanuel M. General
