SYDNEY: It’s news unlikely to surprise any Queenslanders who’ve tried to have a picnic lately.
The state has been crowned the territory with the most native species of ants in the world.
In fact, it’s home to more than 1400 varieties, according to a new interactive map made by researchers.
That’s more than twice as many as those just south of the border in NSW.
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The Queensland total also easily exceeds other highly populated international areas, such as regions of South America, New Guinea and central Africa.
The map is the result of the Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics project, led by Hong Kong-based academic Benoit Guenard and Evan Economo, of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology.
They hope the ant map will prove a useful biodiversity and conservation tool by helping scientists track the resilient, industrious – and only occasionally, irritating – insects.
