A new species of cricket discovered

TAN Ming Kai (Group Leader, Biological Sciences)

November 27, 2014

27 Nov 2014 A cricket species was recently described from Admiralty Park in Singapore and named Cardiodactylus admirabilis.The discovery of the new species Cardiodactylus admirabilis (see Figure) is particularly interesting because this species was first found in Admiralty Park in Singapore. Undergraduate Mr TAN Ming Kai from the Department of Biological Sciences in NUS has discovered the new species in an urbanized park, reflecting on the rich biodiversity Singapore harbors. Prior to this, 16 species of crickets and katydids new to science were described from Singapore recently. But most of them were found in the nature reserves. This led to name the species “admirabilis” which means “surprising” in Latin. Cardiodactylus admirabilis has been found so far only in Admiralty Park and nowhere else. The fact that recently many new species unique to Singapore have been found underlines the need for biodiversity research and conservation in Singapore.

tanmk