In 1977, the Sex Pistols set the world on fire with their incendiary punk rock war cry God Save the Queen.
It would have made the perfect theme song for an elusive Far North Queensland critter that has just been photographed alive for the first time.
Matthew Connors is a Cairns-based entomologist who recently trekked to one of the only mountain peaks where the mysterious “punk ant” claims squatter’s rights.
“It looks pretty much like the Sid Vicious of the insect world,” he said.
“Ever since I first learnt about this ant, I’ve wanted to see it.”
Anti-establishment ant
Camponotus thadeus is a jet-black sugar ant with one striking difference.
Golden tufts of hair shoot from its thorax and abdomen in mohawk-style spikes that have inspired its “punk ant” moniker.
“I just couldn’t resist going to see this ant for myself,” Mr Connors said.
“But as you can probably guess from the fact that it’s never been photographed alive before, it’s unfortunately not all that simple.”
The species is only known to live atop a handful of mountain peaks in remote Far North Queensland, including Mount Finnigan about 50km south of Cooktown.
It was towards the top of the roughly 1,100m-tall summit that Mr Connors and his small crew of intrepid entomological explorers found their prize in December – less than a fortnight before major flooding associated with ex-tropical cyclone Jasper made the area inaccessible.
Renowned Cape York naturalist Lewis Roberts acted as their guide and award-winning insect photographer Caitlin Henderson came along for the ride.
‘Punk-rock conga line’
It was no walk in the park – and there was a heatwave to boot.
“It took us about six hours to get up, and there was no path or anything,” Mr Connors said.
“Further down the mountain, it was very open forest and there were none of the punk ants there.
“Then as soon as we got to the rainforest, they started appearing.”
It was a Eureka moment.
Ms Henderson, who exhibits her photographs under the She’s Got Legs online handle, described the abrupt change of terrain.
“All of a sudden at 800 to 850-metre [altitude] the dry country just gives way like a wall – just turns into rainforest,” she said.
“Then suddenly we saw the ants.
“It’s the kind of ant a lot of people would know as a sugar or carpenter ant.
“But it just has the added feature of having the most amazing muppet hair.
“Once you see them all together in a kind of punk-rock conga line, they’re kind of unmistakable.”
The species’ only other immediately obvious quirks include the presence of an antimicrobial secretion-producing metapleural gland – an oddity for its genus – and the fact it is active during the day, unlike its Camponotus cousins.
Insect treasure trove
The terrain’s inaccessibility means it is rarely traversed by humans – and the remote mountain peak had more surprises up its sleeve.
Mr Connors discovered what he believes to be new species of katydid (leafy cricket), huntsman spider and pygmy grasshopper that are unknown to science.
He will have to get permits and return to the mountain to confirm his suspicions.
“I’m kind of dreading [that], given the effort it took to get up there in the first place,” he said.
Ms Henderson said the discovery of new insect species was not as uncommon as most people thought, especially in Far North Queensland.
“We have these incredible clusters of biodiversity in these really tiny areas – species that only exist in these small habitats,” she explained.
“It’s so important to protect those areas, because just like this punk ant, we don’t know what’s living in all these places.”
DIY ethos pays off
Queensland Museum senior entomology scientist and curator Chris Burwell has applauded the efforts of the punk-ant pioneers.
“In a time of unprecedented environmental and climatic change, it’s never been more important to discover, characterise and name Queensland insects and other biodiversity,” he said.
“One obscure, but spectacularly beautiful ant species might seem unimportant, but insects as a whole are an excellent group of organisms for understanding patterns of biodiversity and prioritising areas for conservation.”
Dr Burwell estimated up to three-quarters of Queensland’s insects were yet to be formally named.
“The efforts of passionate entomological explorers and a burgeoning ‘army’ of citizen scientists are making valuable contributions to our knowledge of Queensland’s, Australia’s and the world’s insect fauna,” he said.
“Most of our insect species are known only from preserved specimens in collections and capturing such images of them in wild can provide insights into their biology and foster an appreciation of our amazing insect fauna.”