An Ant Diversity Sampler

I think the ant just became my new favorite creature. Nice Thaumatomyrmex atrox!

Alex,

Really sweet photos. I'm going to have to spend more time with the social insect folks here at ASU.

Australian Bull ants: they say enough bites will kill you??
I slept out once, near Mildura, home of the biggest raisins.
I awoke to bull ants on my sleeping bag. They were not hostile.
I carefully and respectfully dressed and left, without dissing those ants. One ant could carry off one Mildura raisin.

That is one kickass macro lens, man.

There really ought to be a Top Ten Favourite Ants meme.

Well done Alex - these were beautiful and I loved the links.

Stunning images and great links too! All these are with the MPE and your modified flash ?

Wonderful ant sampler! However, the wikipedia link you give for Polyergus includes the following extraordinarily bogus statement: "Polyergus males (raiders) will emerge from their nest (a mixed nest where Formica workers are already enslaved) and forage for a suitable raid target. If one is found, the male will return to the nest, rally the other Polyergus." It would be nice if someone could edit that article.

Beautiful photos and I love your captions!

Amazing photos! What camera & lens is this ?
And more importantly, how did you manage to make them stand still while you took the snaps ?

Thanks.

That's one kick-bum photographer, man!

(Apologies to Greg Laden)

They are terrifying and beautiful at the same time. Gorgeous images. Liked the captions best of all. What an interesting blog. I'll visit again.

Wonderful pictures, intriguing captions, interesting links - everything the reader wants!

A scale bar would be useful addition. I'd like to know the size of these guys and gals.

They're gorgeous! And the Odontomachus is striking a beautiful pose! I kept seeing them running around in Panama. It took me a few sightings to realize that I recognized the genus of ants that seemed to have little letter Ts for heads.

Has anyone ever done any work on studying the ant colony as a meta-organism? I am not a biologist, but I'm especially interested in work involving the ant colony's "mind" - the idea that the hive is more intelligent than the individual. If anyone knows about this, please let me know: farleygwazda@gmail.com.

You took that photo at 3.00am in the morning and temperature around zero it was cold.

Absolutely lovely ant portraits, Alex! I only aspire to this level of artistry (and focus!).

To Carol H.:
I am working on a taxonomic revision and behavior/ecology review of Polyergus, and once edited the material on the genus at Wikipedia. Some angry fellow then edited it back and made editors's comments along the lines that I was a know-it-all, discrediting the work of knowledgeable amateurs, blah, blah, blah. I welcome someone else to make the effort. If you want to change the link, Alex, you could use my discussion of a common Mississsippi Valley species at http://www.antweb.org/description.do?rank=species&name=cf.%20umbratus&g….

"eff". this might be what you're looking for, or atleast a start to what you're looking for. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/swarms/miller-text

if you're very interested you might want to look up a man named Edward Wilson. pretty much the 'guru' of social insects.

Thanks James, I've changed the Polyergus link.

So many amazing ants and all we have is boring Lasius Niger...

Permission in retrospect Alex?

http://protectingourplanet.blogspot.com/2009/04/ants-analogies-2.html

Thinking about childhood experience with insects: Most of them were creepy untouchables (Eww! Get it off me!). Only three seemed friendly and harmless - june bugs, cicadas ... and ants.

Alex, absolutely incredible work, these pics, your pics of mosquito larvae, and others! Beautiful beautiful stuff... and I love your captions and stories as well.

When I was a kid about all I had was Jean Henri Fabre to fly with but that was enough to inspire a lifelong fascination with insects. If I'd had your photos who knows where I would have ended up? LOL!

Many thanks!

:)
Michael

this is sheer quality photographic art. beyond its natural history/educating purposes. Well done & thank you!

Manos

this is sheer quality photographic art. beyond its natural history/educating purposes. Well done & thank you!