Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
Myrmecologist Stefanie Kautz writes: Dear Colleagues, As a postdoc in Dr. Corrie Moreau’s lab at the Field Museum I have recently developed microsatellite primers for the bullet ant, Paraponera clavata. I am particularly interested in two questions: (i) the phylogeography throughout the distribution range of the species, (ii) whether colony structure changes throughout the distribution range [...]
Ever wonder how Walter Tschinkel makes those amazing casts of ant nests? All is revealed here:
Now that dog day cicadas are out in full force, their giant wasp tormentors have emerged to gather the bounty. Female cicada killers (Sphecius speciosus) scour the trees for prey to fill their underground burrows, while males jostle for the territories that grant them mating rights. Several male cicada killers have set up shop in [...]
Michael Bush is a leading figure in the treatment-free beekeeping movement, and for his new book he chose one of my queen bee photographs. I’m agnostic on the use of synthetic chemicals in beekeeping- I think they are overused but don’t hold any a priori objections to them- but Bush’s extensive and personable website is a fount [...]
That debris-speckled looper was an early-instar larva of Synchlora aerata, the wavy-lined emerald. All ten points go to David Winter, who got there first. Tallying points for July, it seems we have a 1st place tie at 10 points each between David Winter and Keith Bayless, who solved the first week’s mystery. Congratulations, gentlemen. Contact me for [...]
…over at Compound Eye.
The most common newbie mistake I’ve seen in identifying North American ants is to confuse Formica (field ants) and Camponotus (carpenter ants). Both are common, medium-large in size, with a single waist segment. As they are in the same subfamily, Formica and Camponotus have a similar appearance and are easily confused. If you keep your eyes open [...]
I was cleaning the back deck the other day when this walked by: Wasps in the family Pompilidae feed their young with captured spiders. This dietary preference turns out to have complications, however, as the wasp’s larvae typically develop over several weeks on a single prey individual. A wasp can’t just kill a spider and [...]
This little guy can try to hide under a camouflage of collected floral debris, but that won’t keep it safe from the Monday Mystery competition: What is it? All ten Myrmecos points will go to the first person who correctly guesses the Genus and species. The cumulative points winner for the month of July will [...]
With the inferno summer sweltering on here in Illinois, the last of the Brood XIX 13-year periodical cicadas have dropped. We won’t be hearing them again until 2024, but their biomass is already filtering back through the forest ecosystem. I recently caught Camponotus chromaiodes in the act of scavenging the carcasses. photo details: (top)Canon MP-E 65mm [...]
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
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