India has its own 'Ant-Man.' No, he's not an actor!
16 Jul 2018 |
- When Dr. Himender Bharti, a myrmecologist (one who studies ants) was asked to peer-review a manuscript describing the discovery of an ant species in Jammu and Kashmir, little did he know the surprise in store.
- That new species has been named after him!
- Naming it Leptogenys bhartii, the team who had prepared the manuscript said it's to honor Bharti's "outstanding contribution to Indian ants."
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They never told me anything, said an awe-struck Bharti
Surprised |
- Bharti was naturally in awe. "They never told me anything, not even when we met during a conference recently," he recalled.
- However, when he chanced upon his name, he declined to review the manuscript on ethical grounds.
- Bharti and his team at Department of Zoology and Environmental Sciences, Punjabi University, have discovered 77 ant species from India, of which 22 are from Western Ghats.
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He has also scavenged through Vietnam, Malaysia and China
Discovery |
- He has gone all the way to Vietnam, Malaysia and China in Southeast Asia to discover different ant species.
- After working for two decades in this field, he has made an ant repository: Punjabi University Ant Collection.
- It has holotypes of all new species he and his students described. Reference collection of over 1,000 ant species from India and other countries are also stored.
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Comprehensive checklist of ants present in every state made
Bharti's contribution |
- In the repository, 20 paratypes (specimens other than holotypes) of ant species obtained from other parts of the world are described.
- Some have been donated by original discoverers for objective identification of new species.
- Making the work of new ant researchers easier, Bharti has also published a comprehensive checklist in 2016, which details state-wise ant species presence.
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Why ants? 'They have a major role in ecology'
Details |
- Ants attracted Bharti when he realized their role in evolutionary biology.
- "They have a major role in ecology and serve as indicator species of the ecosystem," said Bharti, who has already completed over seven major research projects, with three ongoing.
- "They have a huge influence on the functioning of the ecosystem as their biomass is mostly higher than other organisms in the tropical ecosystem."
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Bharti also working towards conservation of Asian ants
Work |
- Due to this, they need to be conserved, feels Bharti, a member of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- Along with IUCN, he's working towards categorizing Asian-ants as endangered, threatened or vulnerable.
- "The IUCN criterion for red-listing is inapplicable for invertebrates. We're trying to address this," shared Dr Bharti.
- Now will Bharti's dedication help us view these tiny creatures differently? Guess yes!
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