Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
…cuter than American possums. The evening was so dark I could scarcely see the possum with my own eyes, but my camera & fast lens stepped up last night to capture this low light photo. As wildlife goes, the brushtailed possum isn’t terribly exciting. It is like Australia’s gray squirrel, common even in urban habitats. [...]
Here we are in lovely Cape Tribulation, where the Australian rainforest goes right down to the beach. I’ve only got about 2 minutes of internet time to make this post, so here are a couple photos:
Winter descends again on Illinois, bringing insect season to a close. Time to head for the tropics! Mrs. Myrmecos and I will be spending much of December in Australia, visiting her family and photographing the continent’s bizarre ants. In particular, I’m hoping to capture images of weaver ants weaving- a behavior that has thus far [...]
This classic animal film is worth watching just for the soundtrack: On a more personal note, I’ve found baby wombats to be the most adorable thing ever, even when they’re trying to eat my shirt:
From the BBC’s remarkable “Life” series:
Have Australians lost their fight against imported fire ants? Despite $215 million being poured into eradication programs nationally, fire ants have claimed territory in an arc from Logan City, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, to near Grandchester, about 80km west of where the first outbreak was found at the Port of Brisbane in 2001. Authorities [...]
Podomyrma sp. Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia Photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS D60 ISO 100, f13, 1/200 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
I discovered while googling about this morning that Australian ant guru Steve Shattuck has been uploading some very nice photos to flickr. With any luck we’ll be seeing some of these in a new incarnation of the Australian Ants book.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS D60 ISO 100, 1/200 sec, f/11, flash diffused through tracing paper
I’ve never taken to the Australian vernacular for one of their most conspicuous insects. The latin Iridomyrmex purpureus translates as “purple rainbow ant”, referring both to the base color of the body and to the attractive metallic refractions on the cuticle. But Aussies instead call this colorful species the “meat ant.” Crass by comparison. On [...]
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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