Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
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: 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 [...]
The California Academy of Science’s 2013 Ant Course has been announced! Click on the banner below for details. I have participated in several of these over the past decade, and they are unfailingly a worthwhile mix of learning and fun.
Myrmecology is not all sedentary microscope work and beer-drinking. Sometimes field work can be strenuous. Here, ant guy Brian Fisher digs a trench to look for soil-dwelling ants. This particular excavation did not produce any surprises, but I did net a lovely Pristomyrmex. photo details: (top)Canon 17-40mm f4L wide-angle zoom lens on a Canon EOS 7D [...]
If you’ve been following Myrmecos, you might know I was lucky to instruct this summer’s Ant Course in Uganda. Unsurprisingly, it was epic. And I’ve got the photos to prove it: Photographs from Ant Course/Uganda During the 10-day course I took 5,280 exposures. After culling and processing, as of this afternoon I have uploaded 202 of the [...]
Myrmecologists, being only human (most of the time), have an irrational fondness for the proceratiine genus Discothyrea. Why? Have a look, and try not be overwhelmed by the cuteness of a pudgy muppet ant: Discothyrea occurs in tropical climates around the globe, but as they are extremely small (1-2mm long), and as they live ensconced in soil [...]
One of my favorite photos from this summer’s Ant Course in Uganda:
I’m discovering that the fastest way to determine I’m not the first person to photograph something is to make an audacious claim about the supreme gloriousness of my first-ness in the shooting of exquisitely rare Ant X. The internet will sort me out, of course. Thus, I suspect I may have taken the first ever [...]
Continuing our series of “the first photographs of X”, below are what I suspect to be the first living photographs taken of the rare subterranean ant Probolomyrmex: Ant Course in Uganda was phenomonal. There’s nothing like having 40 keen sets of eyeballs out searching for ants in an understudied tropical forest for 10 days. Under [...]
As far as I know, I’ve just uploaded the first living photographs ever taken of the rare African ant Aenictogiton. Go see. Based on genetics and morphology, this creature is probably an army ant. Someone will have to spend time finding and watching the ever-elusive workers to confirm, though. This individual was one of the treasures collected [...]
Ant scientists typically list a battery of technical reasons for why they chose to work on formicids- ecological dominance, social behavior, and so on- but ant science holds another advantage. Myrmecology is a lovely community of people, too. Here’s a shot from the Uganda Ant Course last month.
A personal blog 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? Email alwild [at] myrmecos.net; or follow @Myrmecos on Twitter.
