Biodiversity researchers of the forest department are still not sure whether it is a new insect species or a sub-species of ants. For the time being, they have named it the golden backed woolly ant.
It has a black head, white spots on the stomach and hair on its golden coloured woolly back.
Head of the Biodiversity Research Centre of the Srisailam Project Tiger, K. Thulsi Rao said that the details of the insect had been sent to the Zoological Survey of India.
"We have contacted entomologists and ant specialists of the country too," he said. "There are no records of such a creature. If it cannot be classified as an ant or a spider, a new family has to be named."
It was while detailing the biodiversity of Nallamala of Eastern Ghats that the researchers came across this ant.
"It has stings like an ant but its other characteristics are not that of ants," said Mr Thulsi Rao. "Earlier too, we found several new insect species in Nallamala."
The researchers also found a cat snake that preys on lizards and a cat with a necklace-like black strip.
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