Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
Walt Tschinkel is a genius: In this paper, I describe a method based on the burial of a nest constructed of ice. The hollow space that remains after the ice melts is a facsimile of the ant nest as designed by the experimenter. Want to see, in the field, how a colony of ants reacts [...]
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:
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 [...]
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 [...]
One of my favorite photos from this summer’s Ant Course in Uganda:
You may be familiar with the California Academy of Science’s extremely popular Ant Course, which offers intensive taxonomic training in a once-a-year workshop held at an exotic locale. Ant Course is fantastic, with all its taxonomicky taxonomy and systematicky systematics. What if your anty interests, however, tend more to ecology and behavior? A new course [...]
If you follow myrmecology on the internet, you probably know about Benoit Guenard’s Global Ants database. Benoit has spent years combing disparate biological literature and natural history collections to compile a comprehensive map of where all the 300-some ant genera are known to live. This information is useful in its own right (want to know [...]
The Astonishing Ant-Man from Iaia Sinimbu on Vimeo.
Ant guru Jack Longino sends in a myrmecological wonder: Hey Alex, You and/or the antblog might find this interesting. I thought it was pretty cool. Ergatoid queen of Leptogenys josephi, in the process of laying an egg. That’s a big egg! Bet they don’t lay those too fast. Various species of small Leptogenys have these [...]
Remember the myrmecological disagreement over maintaining Pyramica as a separate genus from the similar Strumigenys? After fulminating on the issue for some months, I’ve decided to throw my lot in with the synonomy. I give up. They’re all just Strumigenys. I have updated my galleries accordingly. There has not been any new research to shed light [...]
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.
