Anonychomyrma workers aggressively defend the carcass of a carpenter ant they have found from would-be usurpers.

Several years ago Australian myrmecologist Alan Andersen proposed a set of categories for arranging ant species by “functional group“. These groups carried names like “cold-climate specialists,” and “subordinate camponotines,” and they were widely adopted by ecologists for their ease of use. The scheme also drew considerable ire from taxonomists, especially since the categories were somewhat arbitrary and many blended behavioral and taxonomic attributes.

Another issue was that these groups, crafted from Andersen’s knowledge of the Australian fauna, didn’t always make sense outside of Australia. Certainly the “Dominant Dolichoderines” were aptly described on the great southern continent. Any stray bit of picnic lunch in Australia is nearly instantly covered by ravenous and aggressive Iridomyrmex. But do the same functional categories apply to the more timid dolichoderines of Europe?

I’m not sure.

In any case, the Aussie genus Anonychomyrma fits the bill of a dominant dolichoderine. Here are couple recent photos of Anonychomyrma defending their title.

Anonychomyrma workers cooperate to transport the body of a dead carpenter ant.

Portrait of an Anonychomyrma worker.

Set phasers on stun, Captain.

Years ago I held the opinion that social insects were too alien, their concerns too remote from our own, to enlighten us about the nature of our human societies. I’ve since come around to a more nuanced perspective.

It is certainly still true that ants’ optimal solutions to their various social conflicts differ from our optimal solutions. Just because ants kill the offspring of cheating workers does not mean we ought practice infanticide, for example.

Yet our society expresses common underlying dynamics to those of insects. We face the same questions of how to balance individual autonomy with sacrifice for the advancement of the group. Our answers cannot be similar to those of the ants, but by studying how ants work through their conflicts we may at least learn something of the topology of the problem.

"Indian Collecting Cochineal with a Deer Tail" by José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez (1777) (Wikipedia, Cochineal)

The answer was stated most concisely, if belatedly, by Jesse:

Dactylopius coccus, or cochineal scale insects, can be found on the Opuntia cactus in the foreground. The red dye derived from the bodies of these crushed insect were historically used to color the “Red Coat” uniforms.

I’ll swing Jesse 2 points for the clarity of his answer, but the full 10 points go to Chris Grinter who arrived there first. Also, 5 points to Heather Vandagriff for a speedy if incomplete answer over on Google +.

For more on cochineal, I’ll refer you to Bug Girl’s posts here, here, and here.

A close examination of the mystery photo reveals cochineal scale insects on the cactus.

Consider a landscape from the Rincon mountains east of Tucson, Arizona:

I will award 10 Myrmecos points to the first person who can tell me how the subject of this image relates to 18th century British military uniforms.

The cumulative points winner for the month of February will take home their choice of 1) any 8×10-sized print from my photo galleries, or 2) a guest post here on Myrmecos. Good luck!

Incidentally, here’s a Mystery of a different kind:

I can’t be bothered to choose between the Patriots or the Giants this year, so I’m just going to enjoy my beer and hope for more insects in the advertising.

Gesomyrmex (Formicidae: Formicinae) worker preserved in amber (antweb.org)

Points go to Julie Stalhut (5 pts) for being first to subfamily and to MarekB for being first to genus (5pts), with 1 pt each awarded to SteveS & Vincent Perrichot for suggesting the species G. hoernesi.

This brings us to the end of the January mysteries. Our monthly winner, with a total of 15 points, is MarekB. Second place, tied at a brainy 10 points each, are Kojun, Morgan Jackson, and JasonC.  Marek, contact me for your loot!

The mystery wasp (Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia)

Here’s why I love the internet. Within 24 hours of tweeting a new photo of an odd Australian wasp, I received this tweet back from the fine folks at the NCSU insect museum:

I emailed chrysidid expert Lynn Kimsey, a friend from my grad school days back at U.C. Davis. I hadn’t recognized the wasp as a chrysidid- it’s that weird! Lynn replied almost immediately:

OMG!!! I’m currently revising this genus – Loboscelidia. I’ve never seen them alive. We have no idea how they make a living except for one obscure reference to rearing one from a walking stick egg. Do you have any other photos of it??? This is a male.

Awesome. Seriously, awesome.

Twitter got the wasp in front of the right set of eyeballs within a day after I posted the photo. Now we not only know what the insect is, but we know- after some additional sleuthing- these may be the only live photographs ever taken of this species, genus, and subfamily. A Myrmecos exclusive!

Here are a few more:

Loboscelidia sp.

Loboscelidia sp.

To make my life complete, now I just need instant image-processing and tweeting capabilities from remote tropical jungles. Had I known in the field that this bizarre animal was a rare and potentially valuable discovery, I would have devoted more than two minutes to it.

I am pleased to announce that BugShot, our humble insect photography event from last summer, is poised to expand into a series of courses & workshops. For starters, this means two things:

1. The 2012 BugShot summer workshop now has a time and a place: the magical Archbold Biological Station in Florida, August 23-26.
2. BugShot now has a dedicated web page, bugshot.net.

Registration for the summer course opens March 1st.