Continuing our series of First-Ever-Photographs, after some research I suspect I have taken the first live images of the African tree-dwelling ant Terataner:
Terataner elegans (Kibale Forest, Uganda)
If you know of other photographs, speak up! I’ve been unable to find any online, nor in the scant technical literature on this genus.
The crew at Ant Course 2012 collected a twig nest of Terataner elegans along the roadside entrance to the Makerere University Field Station in Uganda, letting me borrow it for a few photographs before the ants were pickled for Cal Academy’s research collections. I had never seen live Terataner before. They reminded me a great deal of the related Australian genus Podomyrma, as both are muscular arboreal insects.
Terataner elegans (Kibale Forest, Uganda)
That images of these ants are exceedingly rare is not some boast of my photographic prowess; rather, it’s an observation on the paucity of African ant research relative to just about anywhere else in the world. Africa holds great promise for discovery.
Terataner elegans (Kibale Forest, Uganda)
- Terataner on Antweb
- Barry Bolton’s Terataner revision (+ others)
- New Terataner photographs at alexanderwild.com
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Well, I did capture several specimens at locations in Nigeria in 1975, making a drawing published in 1980. The best I could in in those days of expensive 35 mm transparency film.
Gary Alpert published his observations of Madagascar Terataner. Fyi. http://gap.entclub.org/taxonomists/Alpert/Terataner.pdf
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Apparently Africa holds a lot of entomological opportunity.. our university (U. of Missouri) recently hosted two visiting faculty from Africa and the lack of entomologists on their continent forces them to be a jack of all trades within the field, not allowing time for fun specializations like we have the pleasure of enjoying in the U.S.