ManhattAnt (Manhattan + ant)
A new breed of ant found in Manhattan in 2012 was dubbed “ManhattAnt” (Manhattan + ant). “New breed of ruffi-ant found in Manhattan” by Annie Karni was printed in the New York (NY) Post on September 2, 2012. Karni wrote:
“Researchers believe the ‘ManhattAnt’ — which has not yet been given an official scientific name — may have evolved due to its isolation in the concrete jungle, where it has adapted to a warmer, drier urban environment.”
“NYC Has Its Own Ant, the ‘ManhattAnt’” was posted on Smithsonian.com on September 5, 2012.
New York (NY) Post
New breed of ruffi-ant found in Manhattan
By Annie Karni September 2, 2012 | 4:00am
(...)
Biologists studying six-legged New Yorkers have discovered a never-before-seen breed of the prehistoric insect living in the Broadway medians at 63rd and 76th streets.
“It’s a relative of the cornfield ant, and it looks like it’s from Europe, but we can’t match it up with any of the European species,” said Rob Dunn, a biology professor at North Carolina State University, whose team discovered the insect.
(...)
Researchers believe the “ManhattAnt” — which has not yet been given an official scientific name — may have evolved due to its isolation in the concrete jungle, where it has adapted to a warmer, drier urban environment.
Smithsonian.com
NYC Has Its Own Ant, the “ManhattAnt”
A new ant species joins a menagerie of other creatures cut off from their kind in isolated patches of urban green in NYC
By Rachel Nuwer
smithsonian.com
September 5, 2012
Biologists stumbled upon a new species of ant in the Broadway medians at 63rd and 76th streets, the New York Post reports. The ant looks like it hails from Europe, but so far the scientists have not been able to match it with any of the approximately 13,000 species of known ant. “It’s new to North America, and we believe it’s new to the entire world,” biologist Rob Dunn, whose team discovered the insect, told the Post. The ant doesn’t have a scientific name yet, but it’s fondly nicknamed the “ManhattAnt.”
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Upper West Side Has Its Own Ant Species Dubbed the “ManhattAnt” https://on.viewing.nyc/2KS7jt4
11:47 AM - 9 Jul 2018
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Between 63rd and 76th streets in New York City, scientists discovered an ant species found nowhere else on earth. It has been nicknamed the “ManhattAnt.”
4:20 PM - 21 Sep 2018
CNN
Scientists identified the ‘ManhattAnt’ — and they have theories on why it’s taking over NYC
By Taylor Nicioli, CNN
Updated 10:22 AM EDT, Fri August 23, 2024
Under the feet of millions of New Yorkers, a species of ant — originally not found anywhere else in North America — has been thriving in the concrete jungle for more than a decade, surprising scientists with its unique aptitude to flourish in Manhattan and the city’s other boroughs. But where the insect came from and why it has acclimated so well to this urban setting remained a mystery.
Now, scientists have discovered the ant’s identity and its origins, and it is a few thousand miles away from home. The globe-trotting insect is a native European species known as Lasius emarginatus, commonly observed in more natural settings in central Europe, according to new research.
Researchers first spotted the insect, dubbed the “ManhattAnt,” while doing a survey on ants in New York City in 2011. To their surprise, the ant — with its black head and abdomen and a red thorax — did not match any of the nearly 800 species found in North America and the researchers speculated that it might be a European species; no further research was done to confirm the species at the time.
But now, the insect has grown in numbers so that it is the second most common ant in the area, catching the attention of scientists and New Yorkers who live with the pest, said Clint Penick, an assistant professor of entomology and plant pathology at Auburn University in Alabama.