A species of ant previously unknown to science has been discovered in the Hajar Mountains – and it has been named in honour of Sharjah.
While finding new species is not necessarily unusual, the name of the new ant makes it stand out and emphasises the link to the place where it was found.
The discovery has been accompanied by a call for the area where the creature was found to be protected to ensure that the species can survive amid rapid development.
Resembling a related ant first found in Zimbabwe more than 70 years ago, the new species was discovered in the Wadi Shees area in Sharjah emirate.
In a study published this month in the Journal of Natural History, the scientist who identified the creature, Prof Mostafa Sharaf of the Sharjah Environment and Protected Areas Authority, has named it Carebara sharjahensis.
“The most stringent environmental conservation measures should be implemented in its locality in the Hajar Mountains to protect the new species from habitat loss due to anthropogenic activity,” he said in the paper.
Prof Sharaf is an ant expert or myrmecologist who has previously identified other new species in the region, including in Oman and Saudi Arabia.
The new species is most similar, he said in the paper, to a Carebara khamiensis, which was discovered in Zimbabwe and first described by a scientist in 1952. Globally, nearly 14,000 ant species have been identified, but researchers think that the total number is much higher, at about 22,000.
The Hajar Mountains are one of the most nature-rich areas of the UAE and home to numerous species that are endemic, meaning that they are not found anywhere else. These include reptiles, such as geckos, and mammals, notably the Arabian tahr, a wild goat.
Gary Feulner, who chairs Dubai Natural History Group and who has published many scientific papers on the UAE’s flora and fauna, said that it was to be expected that a dedicated survey for ants of mountain areas, or most other locations in the country, would yield species that had not previously been found in the Emirates. However, he said that species that were also new to science were more exceptional.
“To determine the significance of any individual discovery, additional work also needs to be done to assess the range, abundance, habitat, etc, of the species in question, as well as whether they are native species, or exotics introduced with agriculture in past centuries, or by landscaping or otherwise in the modern era,” he said.
Under the microscope
The classification of ants, known as their taxonomy, is “notoriously painstaking”, as it also is for spiders and scorpions, Mr Feulner said.
Identifying species requires, he said, high-powered microscopes and the examination of features such as pitting in particular areas of the insect’s rigid external covering or exoskeleton. He said that genetic studies may also be carried out.
Among the features distinguishing the newly identified species are frontal carinae or crests that are “shallowly developed”, the paper states, and “well-developed” hornlike appendages on the head fringed with hairs called setae.
Recognising ant genera – the next category up from species in the scientific classification of organisms – is often more straightforward, being based on more fundamental anatomical features.
“The major difficulty lies in the fact that unlike most vertebrate genera, ant and spider genera may include dozens or even hundreds of species within each genus, with only very arcane differences between them,” Mr Feulner added.
Single specimen
The new species was identified by just a single specimen, a soldier ant – a type of worker ant that is typically larger in size. Although ideally several specimens would be analysed to identify a new species, numerous other species have been identified by just one individual. The paper has gone through a peer-review process, which involves analysis by other scientists.
Walter Tschinkel, emeritus distinguished professor at Florida State University and the author of The Fire Ants and Ant Architecture, the first of which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, told The National that the ant fauna of the Arabian Peninsula appeared not to have been as well characterised than that of some other parts of the world.
There are, he said, about 230 species of the Carebaragenus and they are distributed worldwide. “It clearly occupies a range of ecological niches. With 230 species that’s got to be true,” he said. “The world of ants is typically very local. There are some ants that have very wide distribution, but that’s not the norm.”
He said ants were often “keystone species” in ecosystems and tended to be dominant in terms of abundance and total biomass. A study by a colleague found that they made up 80 per cent of the animal biomass in or on the soil.
“Whatever energy they accumulate from their diet, usually things that are smaller than ants but not necessarily, is then available to higher levels of the ecosystem,” he said. “Ants are often the most abundant insect-level predators and scavengers and they in turn can be important food for birds, lizards and other larger insects, and so on.”
UAE wildlife programmes – in pictures
The Baghdad Clock
Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Can NRIs vote in the election?
Indians residing overseas cannot cast their ballot abroad
Non-resident Indians or NRIs can vote only by going to a polling booth in their home constituency
There are about 3.1 million NRIs living overseas
Indians have urged political parties to extend the right to vote to citizens residing overseas
A committee of the Election Commission of India approved of proxy voting for non-resident Indians
Proxy voting means that a person can authorise someone residing in the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his behalf.
This option is currently available for the armed forces, police and government officials posted outside India
A bill was passed in the lower house of India’s parliament or the Lok Sabha to extend proxy voting to non-resident Indians
However, this did not come before the upper house or Rajya Sabha and has lapsed
The issue of NRI voting draws a huge amount of interest in India and overseas
Over the past few months, Indians have received messages on mobile phones and on social media claiming that NRIs can cast their votes online
The Election Commission of India then clarified that NRIs could not vote online
The Election Commission lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police asking it to clamp down on the people spreading misinformation
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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Abu Dhabi GP starting grid
1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
4 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
5 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
7 Romain Grosjean (Haas)
8 Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
9 Esteban Ocon (Force India)
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
11 Carlos Sainz (Renault)
12 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
13 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
14 Sergio Perez (Force India)
15 Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
16 Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
17 Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
18 Stoffe Vandoorne (McLaren)
19 Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
20 Lance Stroll (Williams)
