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HONG KONG: Four-year project maps location of species, with Australian state of Queensland found to host the greatest number of native species
The world’s first ever ant map showing the distribution of the tiny industrious creatures around the globe was launched on Thursday by the University of Hong Kong in a bid to shed more light on the insect world.
The colourful interactive online map which took four years to complete, displays the geographic locations of nearly 15,000 types of ants, with the Australian state of Queensland home to the highest number of native species at more than 1,400.
Benoit Guenard, one of the co-founders of the map, said: “[Insects are] one of the main groups we need to focus on when we talk about biodiversity.”
“Ants are very important in most ecosystems,” Guenard added, because they cycle soil nutrients and help in seed dispersal. “They are one of the best-studied groups of insect.”
Antmaps, a joint project between Guenard and Evan Economo, a professor at the Okinawa Institute of Sciences and Technology graduate school, also differentiates ants which are native to a region and species which were imported.
