Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
An Eciton hamatum raiding column concentrates its forces on an unfortunate ant nest on the Amazonian forest floor: A closer look reveals imposters running in the columns: What are they? Ten Myrmecos points to the first commentator to pick the family. The cumulative points winner for today through the month of February will win their [...]
If Eciton burchellii receives a disproportionately large share of scrutiny, here’s an army ant that suffers the converse fate of chronic inattention: Labidus coecus was the first army ant I ever saw in the field. A narrow column emerged briefly above ground and underfoot as I lined up to get vaccinations as a fresh Peace [...]
Eciton burchellii is, according to Wikipedia, “the archetypal species of army ant“. Insofar as this is the most-studied species, and the ant that dominates the nature documentaries, I suppose the moniker is true. Yet, the biology of E. burchellii is not terribly representative of army ants. It is an outlier, an ant whose behavior has [...]
Several of you have asked about how I set up this shot of an army ant raid. Here’s the secret:
A personal weblog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Myrmecos- derived from the ancient greek word for "ant"- hosts Alex's musings about these and other little creatures that share our planet.
Questions? Comments? Email alwild [at] myrmecos.net
|
| Blog: |
| Myrmecos |
|
Topics:
|
| Insects, Photography, Science |
|
|
