Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
I can’t imagine what an insect infected with a mermithid nematode must feel. In Belize last week we encountered several parasitized trap-jaw ants, each stumbling about with a belly twice the heft of that in a healthy ant. Scaled to human size, a mermithid would be at least as intrusive as an anaconda coiled among [...]
What were those red globes stuck to the buggy fuzzball? They were parasitic mites- probably Erythraeidae- feeding on a planthopper nymph in the family Flatidae. Five points to Ted MacRae for nabbing the bug family first, and five more to Chris Borkent for the mites. I *think*, but am not sure, that the bug is [...]
You may remember Wesley Fleming, the glass artist I blogged about last year. It seems he’s accomplished a remarkable new piece: a leafcutter ant infected with a parasitic Cordyceps fungus. As far as I know this is the first Cordyceps ever created from glass. If you’d like to see it in person, this and some [...]
I did not expect everyone to nearly instantaneously solve yesterday’s termite ball mystery. I’m either going to have to post more difficult challenges (from now on, nothing will be in focus!) or attract a slower class of reader. As you surmised, those little orange balls are an egg-mimicking fungus. It is related to free-living soil fungi, [...]
From National Geographic’s In the Womb: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMG-LWyNcAs]
Here’s a sharper version:
We often think of ants as paragons of hard work, but a surprising number of species get by through mooching off the labor of others. Trachymyrmex fungus growers, the larger spiny ants pictured above, do things the old-fashioned way. They dig their own nests, send workers out to gather food, and meticulously cultivate the fungus [...]
Here’s a story about a parasitic nematode that turns black ants into ripe red berries. What’s this about? The parasite needs to get its eggs from an infected ant to healthy ants. Apparently it hasn’t been successful the old-fashioned way, just broadcasting its eggs about the environment. Instead, these little worms have figured out a [...]
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.
