Context: Two new species of a rare ant genus have been discovered in India.

• The species of the ant genus Ooceraea found in Kerala, and Tamil Nadu add to the diversity of this rare genus.
• They differ from others of the same genus on the basis of the number of antennal segments.
• One of them found in the Periyar Tiger Reserve of Kerala, has been named Ooceraea joshii, in honour of Prof. Amitabh Joshi, a distinguished evolutionary biologist from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India.
• The newly discovered ant species with ten segmented antennae discovered, establish an old world lineage that contains a species emerging as the only model organism among the ant subfamily.

Periyar National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary (PNP)

• It is a protected area located in Kerala, India.
• It is notable as an elephant reserve and a tiger reserve.
• The park is a repository of rare, endemic and endangered flora and fauna and forms the major watershed of two important rivers of Kerala, the Periyar and the Pamba.
• The park is located high in the Cardamom Hills and Pandalam Hills of the south Western Ghats along the border with Tamil Nadu.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1691484

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