ants
grrlscientist | January 26, 2009tags: ants, hymenoptera, excavating ant city, nature, science, streaming video
This fascinating video details how a scientist learns what an ant colony looks like in the wild -- it's astonishing how big these things can get [3:16]
awild | January 25, 2009
Tonight's selection was suggested for your viewing pleasure by Jack Longino.
awild | January 25, 2009Figure 1. For the 32 most-studied ant species, the percentage of publications 1984-2008 in various contexts.
In thinking about where the myrmecological community ought to devote resources in the age of genomics, it occcured to me that putting some numbers on where researchers have previously concentrated their efforts might be useful. So I went to BIOSIS previews and quantified the number of publications in 5-year intervals from 1984 to 2008 recovered under searches for various well-studied ant species (methods and full data here). Here's what I found:
Number of publications 1984-2008…
awild | January 20, 2009Over at the Ant Farm Forum they're playing a round of Name That Ant*. This week's challenge was posed by MarekB and is a particularly tough one. Go on over to try your hand.
*This sort of activity is certainly not geeky.
awild | January 19, 2009Camponotus discolor male, queen, and worker
Here's an image I should have taken years ago. It's a stylized shot of the different castes in an ant colony, perfect for a textbook illustration of the morphological distinctions among males, gynes, and workers. Better late than never, I suppose.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D
ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/13, flash diffused through tracing paper
awild | January 15, 2009This weekend, Arizona State University is hosting a slate of myrmecologists to brainstorm on ant genomes. I'd link to the meeting information, but apparently the gathering is so informal that they've not given the event a web page. In any case, the topic is this: in the age of (relatively) cheap genomes, which ants should we sequence? And, what should we do with the assembled data?
I originally planned to attend, but life intervenes and I'm frozen to the tundra of central Illinois. Instead, I will register here a few suggestions about which species should considered, in addition to…
awild | January 14, 2009From the Small Science Collective comes a little zine about ants:
The idea, I guess, is that printable pamphlets are ideal for scattering about in public places. Or as handouts during door-to-door myrmeco-evangelism.
awild | January 12, 2009Aphaenogaster cockerelli, Arizona
Here's a new study in Current Biology from Adrian Smith, Bert Hoelldobler, and Juergen Liebig:
Abstract: Cheaters are a threat to every society and therefore societies have established rules to punish these individuals in order to stabilize their social system [1â3]. Recent models and observations suggest that enforcement of reproductive altruism (policing) in hymenopteran insect societies is a major force in maintaining high levels of cooperation [4â6]. In order to be able to enforce altruism, reproductive cheaters need to be reliably identified. Strong…
awild | January 8, 2009
Sericomyrmex amabilis in its fungus garden, Panama
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D
ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/13, twin flash diffused through tracing paper
awild | January 7, 2009
Birgit Schlick-Steiner, of the University of Innsbruck in Austria, has funding for a Ph.D. student to work on the molecular ecology of the Tetramorium caespitum complex. This research group has produced some top-notch science in recent years, and if you are looking to become a professional myrmecologist this is an excellent opportunity. You'd receive training in some of the most current techniques at the interface of genetics, ecology, and taxonomy. The full announcement is below the fold.
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, INSTITUTE OF ECOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK
PhD position
The University…
awild | January 6, 2009Odontomachus meinerti trap-jaw ant, Argentina
One perk of being at a research university is the opportunity to shoot the various study organisms on campus. These subjects are interesting- they have to be, or they wouldn't be studied- and when the research goes public I get the chance to disseminate my photographs with the science media outlets that cover the story.
Among my favorite campus animals is the Odontomachus trap-jaw ant, one of the focal taxa in Andy Suarez's lab. The researchers are looking at the biomechanics of the jaw, one of the fastest recorded appendages among all…
awild | January 4, 2009From David Attenborough's The Trials of Life (1990):
If you're interested in learning more about navigation in Cataglyphis, look for papers coming from the lab of Rüdiger Wehner. His group has produced a stream of really top-notch research.
awild | January 4, 2009
leafcutter ant mating swarm, Arizona
The sparkle of these insects' wings was captured by pointing the camera at the sun while standing behind the mating swarm. I find backlighting to be one of the most pleasing effects for translucent wings.
photo details: Canon 100mm f2.8Â macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D
ISO 100, f/11, 1/500 sec
awild | January 3, 2009In the comments, Eric Eaton makes an observation:
Iâm left wondering (just a little) why Alex has such a beef with Dr. Wilson. This is not the first post taking a jab at Wilson, so while Alex makes an excellent point, Iâm also sensing some underlying issues hereâ¦.
Eric is right there's an issue. It is one many myrmecologists, especially systematists, have been tip-toeing around for a while now.
The short version is that Wilson is no longer at the leading edge of myrmecology. As he has fallen out of step with the practicing research community, his public ant commentary is increasingly at…
awild | January 1, 2009
Formica incerta, Illinois
Despite a widespread belief that ants produce formic acid, the habit is confined to only one of the 20-some ant subfamilies, the formicinae. This is among the most abundant subfamilies, containing the familiar carpenter ants and field ants, and is recognizable by the single constricted waist segment and an acid-dispersing nozzle called the acidopore at the tip of the abdomen. The most recent myrmecos.net upload covers a variety of formicine species from Arizona, Illinois, and South Africa.
Click here to visit the gallery.
awild | December 29, 2008
Another year passes. The economy is in the toilet. Violence spreads in the middle east. In these trying times, one question must weigh on the minds of concerned citizens: "What's happening in world of ant science?"
Of course. Here are the myrmecological highlights of 2008:
The Demise of the Standard Ant. That is the title of a review by Juergen Heinze, but the idea that our basic conception of how ant colonies work is overly simplistic receives plenty of additional support from the research community.  For instance, Smith et al document the complexity of caste determination in…
awild | December 28, 2008This morning I was picking through recent ant literature for a 2008 myrmecological retrospective post when I stumbled on this little gem.
Why do autumn leaves change to such striking colors? Kazuo Yamazaki thinks it's all about the ants:
Therefore, bright autumn leaves may have adaptive significance, attracting myrmecophilous specialist aphids and their attending ants and, thus, reducing herbivory and competition among aphids.
I hereby proclaim Kazuo Yamazaki the first recipient of an award in his own name, the Yamazaki "Going Way Out On A Limb" Award, for creative lateral thinking in…
awild | December 20, 2008An unusually festive jumping ant from a laboratory colony at Arizona State University. Researchers mark ants with unique patterns of paint to keep track of individuals for studies of ant behavior.