Ant Voldermort! Insect named after Harry Potter's dark wizard

Cover Media

16 April 2024 at 10:35 am·1-min read

Scientists in Australia have discovered a species of ant that resembles Harry Potter's nemesis Lord Voldemort.

The mysterious new ant species, Leptanilla voldemort - L. voldemort for short - was found In the sun-scorched Pilbara region of north-western Australia.

It is a pale ant with a slender build, spindly legs, and long, sharp mandibles. Its finders state that they named the insect in homage to the dark wizard due to the ant's, "ghostly and slender appearance, and the dark underground environment, from which it has emerged."

Scientists Dr Mark Wong of the University of Western Australia and Jane McRae of Bennelongia Environmental Consultants describe the enigmatic new species in a paper published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Only two specimens of the bizarre new ant species were found. Both were collected in a net that was lowered down a 25-metre drill hole and skilfully retrieved while scraping against the hole's inner surface - an innovative technique for collecting underground organisms known as 'subterranean scraping'.

Compared to other Leptanilla ant species, L. voldemort has an extremely slender body as well as long, spindly antennae and legs. Together with its collection from a 25-metre-deep drill hole, this unusual morphology has left experts speculating as to whether it truly dwells in soil like other Leptanilla species, or exploits a different subterranean refuge, such as the air-filled voids and cracks that form within layers of rock deeper underground.

The long, sharp jaws of L. voldemort, however, leave little to the imagination - making it as fearsome to other tiny creatures as Voldemort was to Potter and his chums.

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