Guys, imagine discovering a new species of ant that scientists have not yet identified
or catalogued, living in your own backyard. It’s not too far fetched,
as new species of ants are being discovered and identified all the time, and the complete
catalogue of ant species ever discovered by scientists throughout the entire world,
curated at Antweb.org, the global website keeping track of all documented ant species,
is constantly increasing, currently at over 16,000 species of ants and counting.
Now, surely for an ant lover like myself, discovering a brand new ant species never before
documented by science is the ultimate dream, and I’d probably request for them to incorporate
“antscanadensis” or “acfamilius” into the species name somehow. Haha! Now I used to think such a
dream of discovering a new ant species was a little far fetched. That was until this week!
Now, I thought I knew about all the ants living in my yard, as we’ve already been filming and
recording the multitude of different ant species we’ve spotted in my yard,
placing them on a bird-eye view map of my property. But after laying out some food to
help feed the native ants of my yard this week, I was shocked to discover an ant species I didn’t
recognize nor see before, finally coming out into the open to reveal itself. It was a gorgeous ant,
that I was super thrilled to see living in my yard, and guys, I think you all will truly love
what these super unique ants are and look like! In fact, I’m going to try to find a
queen of this species, and attempt to raise a colony of them because they are just so cool!
But that’s not all, guys! The biggest shock of all, was when I did a little
research on this new cool ant you’re about to see in this video, because it turns out,
we just may have made a novel ant discovery! Welcome to the AntsCanada Ant Channel!
Please SUBSCRIBE to the channel and hit the BELL ICON! Welcome to the AC Family! Enjoy!
So let me start by saying I’m not a myrmecologist nor a taxonomist, as both professions are highly
involved jobs, whose work is not easy, and requires years and years of schooling, research,
and knowledge. Identifying new ants is a very difficult process and requires specimens to be
examined in a lab under a microscope, looking at various physiological features in the specimens,
then comparing notes to those made by ant taxonomists prior, to determine if an ant specimen
is anything like an ant species we’ve discovered before, or if it’s indeed a novel or new ant
species, never before discovered. Sometimes the differences between species are so subtle,
for example the shape of the ants’ genitalia or hair distribution, that it takes a very long time
to document a new species and can’t be done by the average person, a.k.a. an ant enthusiast
like me with no ant taxonomic training. If you’re curious about how new ant species are discovered
go watch our video featuring Dr. Brian Fischer, the founder of Antweb.org, and you’ll see just
how involved the process of documenting new ants is! But sometimes, amateur ant enthusiasts
do happen to stumble across novel ant discoveries or film things never caught on camera,
as we’ve seen a few times on this channel, and so AC Family, do keep on watching until the end
because I think we may have possibly stumbled across another neat ant discovery. Possibly!
Before I get into how I spotted the new ant, let me start by quickly going over where I spotted it,
i.e. my backyard, this 3,000 square meter plot of land on which we are currently building
our AC Ant House, the custom home I’m building to house the various pet ant colonies and exotic
beasts featured on this channel. I’m pleased to share that the second floor is now complete
and they’re working on the roof deck! I can’t wait for us to move in later this year,
and start a new chapter on this channel in our new
Antiverse! So again, guys don’t forget to subscribe to be part of this new adventure!
But one of the cool new things, I’ve realized over the past few months is that the yard of
the Ant House is actually an entirely different and amazing universe of wildlife on its own!
It’s so amazing and exotic, I’ve given the yard a name: Antopia. Antopia is a lush territory,
full of thick flourishing vegetation, animals like this toad, various insects like this beetle,
and of course tonnes and tonnes of ants all interacting and interdependent, in a never
ending ecological dance called the food web. Obviously, for me the most interesting are the
ants living in the yard, and what’s amazing is how they interact with every lifeform in some way. The
ants are either eating other animals after they die like this dead monitor lizard carcass, they’re
hunting them like these poor termites, they’re collecting droppings from birds, and they’re
even going to war with each other! You can catch up on all the drama of the Great Antopian War
unfolding in this playlist here! It’s truly a real life Ant Game of Thrones that will blow you away!
But now onto finding this new ant species you’re about to see in a sec! In this Great Antopian War
of my yard, there are essentially two major teams of ants. First, there’s Team Native Ants, i.e. the
ants who’ve lived in Antopia for millions of years and are endemic to the area, listed here,
and then there’s Team Invasive Ants, i.e. the ant invaders who’ve been introduced to these lands
by way of human activities, that seek to outcompete, displace, and/or kill our Native Ants.
The Invasive Ants are listed here. Basically the Antopian War, AC Family, is a battle between
Team Natives vs. Team Invasives over space, food, and resources available in Antopia.
But my goal here was to help Team Native ants beat Team Invasive Ants in this great war, because
Invasive Ants can really destroy an ecosystem if they get out of hand, as we’ve seen with fire ants
that have invaded the US, and I know all you Americans from the South know exactly what I’m
talking about! Fire ants, which are originally from South America, are terrible invaders and
have been a problematic, agricultural pest species in many countries. So in order to beat
Team Invasives, and help deter this Invasive Ant movement, I had decided to start feeding
all the Native Ant colonies in my yard right at their nests, at every possible opportunity.
If Team Native Ants was strong and properly nourished, they had a better chance at beating
Team Invasive ants, and so this, AC Family was how I came to spot the new ant species.
AC Family, meet Carebara diversa, also known as the great Marauder Ants of Team Natives.
I was pleased to come across a neat trail of them at one location of the yard. AC Family, I’ve been
trying to think of a name for them. We used to own this species and I loved the name you guys
suggested and voted for: the Titans, due to their massive supermajors that also patrol the grounds
with the colony. What should we name this wild colony of Marauder Ants, guys? Leave your name
suggestions in the comments and I’ll choose my top 5 favourites for us to vote on in a future video.
You may notice the ants transporting small pieces of white stuff. You’re about to see
what these white pieces are in a second. The presence of a small major signals that the
ants had found food somewhere along this trail, and indeed they did, thanks to me!
I gave them a piece of chicken bone to feast on. As you can see,
they took to the food offering quite well and had already stripped most of the meat off and were at
this point breaking off pieces of cartilage to take back home. I loved watching the ants
carving into the chicken bone, as it felt good that they were receiving some great nourishment.
Just look at how efficient they are at bringing home the chicken!
I watched them lug huge chunks of chicken meat cooperatively back to the nest!
I also placed down some sweet jelly for them to feast on, which they proceeded to
pile grains of dirt on in order to make it less sticky so they could feed from it more safely.
But while I was watching the Marauder ants feasting,
a movement on the ground nearby caught my eye.
When I saw the peculiar heart shape of its gaster, I knew this was something I hadn’t seen before.
Then it stopped to clean itself allowing me to get a better look at it.
Wow! Ok now I knew for sure I’d never seen an ant like this!
I watched as it crawled around on the ground in search of some food. What a spectacular
ant! It’s gaster was quite fuzzy and had a unique look, not to mention a cool colour!
I placed down some sweet jelly to feed it and and it took to my gift graciously.
As it sipped from the sweet fluid of the jelly,
I was able to take a much better look at it. Check her out, AC Family! Isn’t she gorgeous?
First and foremost, check out the white fuzzy hair on her gaster, legs,
and body. Her thorax was adorned with a pair of large spines as well as other smaller spines,
and a cute head with round beady eyes made her one of the most adorable ants I’ve ever seen.
Now normally when I see a heart-shaped gaster like this, I think of the genus Crematogaster
which is very common throughout the world, but she was not a Crematogaster. She was something else.
After she had her fill of sweet jelly she was off on her way
to carry the sweet goods to her colony somewhere off in the distance. What a cutie!
Ok now, AC Family, here’s where things got pretty crazy! So, after this sighting, I went
home and posted in some ant forums online with her photo, hoping for a species identification,
and turns out she was identified tentatively as an ant species called Meranoplus bicolor.
So neat! I had heard the name before but had never seen the ant!
But when I tried looking up the species on Antweb.org, to check if the ant was a member
of Team Natives or Team Invasives, I was shocked to discover that Meranoplus bicolor was not
one of the two Meranoplus ant species listed as being sighted in my country.
The only two Meranoplus species of ants found where I live were Meranoplus malaysianus
and Meranoplus biliran, both of which did not look like our ant we saw in Antopia.
Woah wait a minute! So AC Family, this meant one of three possibilities:
First possibility was that this ant was indeed Meranoplus bicolor,
and that they were indeed native to my country. This would be an example of a novel discovery,
as this hasn’t been documented before, which would be truly exciting!
Second possibility, was this ant was indeed Meranoplus bicolor and that they were
introduced to my country making them part of Team Invasives, which would also be a novel discovery,
because again Meranoplus bicolor isn’t listed as a species found in my country.
Or third, and probably the most exciting possibility, is that this ant we spotted
was not Meranoplus bicolor but rather a brand new but closely related species,
never before documented, which again would of course be a novel discovery. If this was the case,
I’m kind of kicking myself for not collecting the specimen for sending to a lab for examination.
But, it was pretty awesome to know that our footage of this ant
can be used to start the conversation as to what this mystery ant is, if it’s native,
and if it’s a brand new ant discovery that we the AC Family made together. I
will send this video to an ant taxonomist friend of mine, who studies, identifies,
curates, and gives names to new ant species all the time for Antweb.org in my country,
and ask him for his expert opinion on what he thinks this ant is. If it’s worth investigating,
at least we know they’re living in Antopia and I can take him and his team of taxonomists to
our yard, if they would like to hunt down and inspect our mystery ant in question further.
I personally am hoping for option three because again, I’d love for the world’s newest and cute,
fuzzy species of ant to be named Meranoplus acfamilius, what do you guys say? It’s got a ring
to it, right? I’ll be sure to update you and let you know what my friend says in a future video!
Overall, today was pretty incredible. It was another prime example of why the world needs
curious minds like ours, and that even if we aren’t scientists by profession,
and just ordinary ant keepers and hobbyists, the scientific world still needs us and places
great value in our ant-loving endeavors. Dr. Brian Fischer in his video with us specifically talked
about how we backyard amateur myrmecologists are just as important to myrmecology,
and we can all literally send ant specimens in laboratory-grade alcohol
to the California Academy of Sciences for his team to identify and catalogue.
And speaking of backyard amateur myrmecologists, you won’t believe it, but the great Matt Groening,
creator of The Simpsons, along with his 7 yr old son Nate are also AC Family,
and sent me this incredible artwork drawing of Homer covered in fire ants! Isn’t that amazing,
guys?! Turns out, Nate has many ant colonies in test tubes and in AC ant farms,
and already knows so much about ants including scientific names, identifying ant genera,
and how to care for them! I have no doubt in my mind, there are many of you out there,
like Matt and Nate who are hardcore ant-lovers, and this brings me such great hope for the future
of myrmecology. It’s exactly why myrmecologists are constantly looking for ways to connect and
communicate with the public and collaborate on scientific initiatives, like ant classes
and workshops. It warms my heart to know that you guys enjoy taking the time in your
day to watch these videos and have a closer look at the secret, amazing lives of ants,
that most of the world usually doesn’t see or know about. On behalf of the ants, thank you for that!
Until our next eye-opening visit to Antopia, let’s cross our fingers guys and hope for
Meranoplus acfamilius becoming a real species! Haha! Thank you for watching
and supporting the ants. It’s ant love forever!
AC Family, did you enjoy today’s episode? Can you imagine if we discovered a new ant species? I’ll
be sure to let you guys know what I find out, so if you haven’t yet do SMASH that SUBSCRIBE button
and BELL ICON now, and hit ALL so you get notified at every upload. Also don’t forget to hit the
LIKE button every single time including now. It would really mean a lot to me, guys. Thank you!
AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here, if you would like to watch random
scenes of the Carebara diversa feeding frenzy and our new mystery ant species. Go check them out!
And guys, be sure to visit AntsCanada.com for all your ant keeping and collecting gear
shipped to you in a special package from our ant-loving facility in the USA,
so you can get the most out of your ant keeping experience. We ship worldwide and
also offer full email support if you need our help! We also have a helpful
forum and ant colony trading marketplace on the site. Visit AntsCanada.com today.
And now it’s time for the AC Question of the Week. Last week, we asked:
Name one of the plants growing in the Ember Islands?
Congratulations to Isaac Tam who answered:
Rockweed
Congratulations Isaac Tam, you just won a free Ultimate Ant Keeping Handbook from our shop!
In this week’s AC Question of the Week we ask:
What is your favourite feature of the new mystery ant in today’s episode?
Leave your answer in the comments section
and you could also win a free Ultimate Ant Keeping Handbook from our shop!
Hope you could subscribe to the channel as we upload every Saturday
at 8AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video,
to help us keep making more. It’s ant love forever!