For the first time, an extremely rare ant has been seen alive. Tyrannomyrmex rex (T. rex for short) had eluded scientists since 2003, when entomologist Fernando Fernández revealed that a single dead ant from Malaysia represented a never-before-seen ant genus. The ant’s tiny mandibles reminded Fernández of the stubby arms of Tyrannosaurus rex and other carnivorous dinosaurs.
In the years since, only a handful of Tyrannomyrmex ants have been found in India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and probably the Philippines, all of them deceased and incidentally collected from leaf litter.
But after digging in the dirt in a Singapore forest, National Geographic Young Explorer and entomologist Mark Wong has found the first recorded live colony of T. rex ants—revealing crucial details about the species, as well as additional mysteries.
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