Three-dimensional image of the previously unknown extinct ant species. Picture: Hammel/Lauströer
Three-dimensional image of the previously unknown extinct ant species. Picture: Hammel/Lauströer - An international team of scientists has discovered a previously unknown extinct ant species encased in a unique piece of amber from Africa. Using the X-ray light source PETRA III at the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg the researchers, from Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the University of Rennes in France, the University of Gdansk in Poland, as well as the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon in Geesthacht, Germany, had examined the critical fossil remains from 13 individual animals in the amber and realised that they could not be attributed to any previously known species. The name given to the new species and genus is + Desyopone hereon gen. et sp. nov. In this way, the scientists are honouring the two research institutions involved - DESY and Hereon - which contributed significantly to this find with the help of modern imaging techniques.
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