(CNS): When James Wetterer docked in the Cayman Islands during his Caribbean cruise holiday in April he set off to see the sights, but he did not head to Seven Mile Beach or Stingray City. Instead, the professor at Florida’s Atlantic University headed for the nearest patch of red mangroves to continue his research, where he stumbled upon a unique species of ant that has never been identified before.

Wetterer tells the story of his discovery in this month’s edition of Flicker, the bi-monthly magazine produced by the Terrestrial Research Unit of the Department of Environment (DoE).

Wetterer had been working on the insects living in the dead hollow twigs in mangrove areas of Florida and had discovered that rare ant species were often found in red mangroves because of their unique habitat, often completely isolated by water from dry land. During his Cayman visit he collected a few specimens from the mangroves he managed to find around the Camana Bay area, and when he cut open the twigs he found an ant he had never seen before.

Similar to two Tapinoma species found in the Caribbean, its coloration was different enough for Wetterer to think it could be an entirely new species. So he sent his Cayman sample to Roberto Guerrero at the Universidad del Magdalena in Colombia, an expert of the genus Tapinoma, who confirmed the as yet undescribed species.

This is the only ant species known solely from the Cayman Islands and will soon be described after Guerrero completes the genetic analyses. Wetterer said he found specimens of the new ant at two locations and collected many worker ants and eleven males, but no queens.

“So I’ve booked another cruise. My family and I am coming back to Grand Cayman in December with the goal of finding some Tapinoma queens,” the professor said.

But Wetterer’s discovery also offers a clear warning.

He found the samples of dead mangroves at Camana Bay on land being cleared for yet another development and he urged Cayman to preserve the mangroves. His find clearly demonstrates that many species depend on mangroves, and as we continue to pull them up we don’t even know the variety and importance of the creatures we may be destroying.

The current issue of Flicker (#28) includes research into the increase of green iguanas in the Sister Islands and the appearance of a rare Black Cuban Hawk at Barkers.