Fil-Canadian YouTuber Mikey Bustos gets credit for ant species discovered in his yard
MANILA, Philippines — Filipino-Canadian content creator and singer Mikey Bustos has discovered an ant species previously not known to exist in the Philippines in his own backyard.
Bustos posted his discovery on his Facebook and Instagram on Saturday.
"Happy to share the great news! I've been credited for making a scientific discovery in ant science right in my own backyard!", Bustos said.
"Two years ago, I found this really cool red and black ant with peach fuzz and spines on its back, that I hadn't ever seen before. After sending specimens to my myrmecologist friend Dr. Dave General, ant taxonomist from University of the Philippines Los Baños, we were both surprised to discover that the species was Meranoplus bicolor, an ant that had not yet been known to exist in the Philippines, where I live," the social media personality added.
Bustos added that as he researched more about the ant species, he was surprised to know that he had been credited for the "geographical scientific discovery of the ant," which he now has a colony in his yard.
"It officially became the 555th ant species to be documented in the country. I went on to name the ant Species # 555 for my AntsCanada channel," he said.
In the comments section of his Facebook post, Bustos shared another good news apart from clarifying that he did not discover the species, but rather found the species that had previously not been found in the Philippines until he found it in his yard in 2021.
"Just wanted to also clarify that I didn't discover the species Meranoplus bicolor. The species was already discovered and named many years ago by someone else. But scientists had no record of it in the Philippines ever, until I found it in my yard in Cavite where I live in 2021. The ant scientific discovery in my yard was geographic in nature. Still very cool and I'm honoured to have contributed to ant science!" he said.
The content creator also gave an update on a new species that he collected that "may be brand new species." He is just waiting for confirmation from David Emmanuel General, University of the Philippines Los Baños Museum of Natural History curator for ants, who said that the said ant species has not been recorded in the Philippines.
"There is another ant species I also collected from my yard that may actually be a brand new species. I am still awaiting verification but so far, according to Dr. Dave General, this new ant I caught, also from my yard, looks like nothing taxonomists have seen or recorded in our part of the world," Bustos shared.
On his post script today on Facebook, Bustos said that the "potentially brand new ant species" looks like from the genus Crematogaster, but noted that it does not look like one from the known records in the Philippines or other Southeast Asian countries.
Mikey said he also has a colony of the unidentified species, which he describes as arboreal and nest within wood.
"The Philippines is such a biodiverse hub of flora and fauna, so diverse that we have not yet discovered and named them all! Hoping this new ant I found is a brand new species," he wrote earlier today.
Bustos gave a parting shot regarding his historic discovery.
"It's amazing what one might find lurking in our own backyards, if only more people took the time to look," he wrote.
