Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
When I first saw the following figure, presented by myrmecologist Chris Schmidt at a social insect conference, the whole room broke into laughter: Pachycondyla, among the most common ants in tropical regions worldwide, turns out to be a motley assortment of unrelated species. While the taxonomy of the world’s 12,000 or so ant species is [...]
Taxonomists live in an age of technological riches. We have digital cameras, high-powered microscopes, DNA sequencers, computers, and boatloads of software for managing data. Each new technology is introduced with some party or other promising that the invention will speed the molasses-like pace of new species descriptions. After all, forests are falling in the name [...]
Those of you familiar with South American ants know the distinction between the two great lineages of leafcutters. Acromyrmex comprises the smaller, stubbier, spinier species, while Atta contains the larger, leggier, and less spiny species. This dichotomy is marked enough even to be recognized in the local vernacular. The Guaraní called the former Akêkê and the latter Ysaú, which Brazilians have [...]
Myrmicine ants are a mess. The subfamily Myrmicinae holds about half of all ant species and includes fire ants, harvester ants, leafcutter ants, turtle ants, and many more. Attempts to arrange the diversity into workable subgroups have been difficult and largely unsatisfying. Many species stubbornly show traits of several groups at once. Molecular trees (Moreau [...]
I recently posted a photograph of the trap-jaw ant Anochetus micans to facebook and G+, prompting one commentator to ask about the difference between Anochetus and the related genus Odontomachus. The easy diagnostic answer is this: The ridge along the back margin of the head in Anochetus is simple, while that of Odontomachus folds inward to become a crease down [...]
You didn’t think I’d just hand you guys a full-body shot of a common insect family, did you? Of course not. I am far too clever. The mystery insect, believe it or not, is not a mutillid. Instead, it’s this thing: Points are awarded as follows: 2 each to Piotr Naskrecki & Guillaume D for [...]
Those of us who enjoy the creative side of taxonomic nomenclature received an early Christmas present this week with the publication of a Zootaxa paper by Paco Hita Garcia & Brian Fisher. Their new revision of Malagasy Tetramorium kelleri and tortuosum species groups contains a slate of gems such as Tetramorium nazgul and Tetramorium jedi, above. From the [...]
Scientists aren’t expected to interject opinionated commentary in the more technical parts of their work. Yet I enjoy the little disciplinary lapses that allow judgmental biases to trickle through. Below, I’ve scanned in a couple of my favorite examples from the ant taxonomic literature:
Benoit Guenárd and Rob Dunn have combed the technical literature to make a list of all the ant species known from China (pdf): China is one of the largest countries in the world and offers an incredible diversity of ecosystems and species. However the distribution of many insect species in China is still poorly known. Here, through [...]
Eli Sarnat and Evan Economo have a beautiful new paper out on the Ants of Fiji. It’s open-access, too: This study is not the first to cover the myrmecofauna of the Fijian islands. Worth reading, for contrast, is William M. Mann’s 1921 classic paper on the same topic: http://gap.entclub.org/taxonomists/Mann/1921.pdf In particular, notice that the 1921 [...]
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.
