[sammalloy]

> never before seen in insects

Is this surprising, considering that an estimated 86% of species on Earth and 91% of ocean species remain unidentified?

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/jou...

[tooltower]

It can be fascinating without being surprising. That argument can be used to downplay any new finding in a poorly explored field.

[ghayes]

I'd also argue that it _is_ surprising, as we'd expect the majority of unknown species to be similar to known species. It's not like every unknown species is just randomly created-- most will have ancestors that are well known and studied.

[learnstats2]

Considering that leaf-cutter ants are well-known to humans (I've seen them in a museum in Amsterdam), I'd say it is surprising that we haven't noticed this before.

[trianglem]

I spent this summer learning about the different mushroom in my area in as much depth as possible and it is incredible how little we know about most of them besides a name and very apparent superficial features.

[Talanes]

The article takes great pains to point out that Leaf-Cutter Ants are not an unknown species though, they're one of the most-studied species of ant.