Myrmecos
Archives for November, 2008
Sunday Night Movie: What is Art?
Posted by Alex Wild on November 30, 2008 From Creature Comforts: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRXHIgWXqn4]
Homage to a Myrmecologist
Posted by Alex Wild on November 30, 2008 Let’s take a lesson from the Swiss. They deem myrmecologists of such great national importance that one once adorned the face of the country’s highest currency. Auguste-Henri Forel and his beloved ants were featured on the 1000 Franc note from 1976 to 1995. Ponder that for a moment. A country reknowned for finance. Put an…
Ambushed by incoming memes
Posted by Alex Wild on November 30, 2008 Apparently the leafy green banner above is insufficient camouflage in the blogosphere. The Myrmecos Blog has been noticed by the meme-passers. Three times this week. Bug Girl has tagged me with the “Six Random Things“. Adrian Thysse would rather have me do “Five Things“. And Huckleberry Days linked me with a “Superior Scribbler Award“. This…
Friday Beetle Blogging: Martineziana Fire Ant Beetle
Posted by Alex Wild on November 28, 2008 Martineziana dutertrei Fire Ant Beetle Texas Any insect that can fool an ant nest’s security system gains access to rich stores of food. Martineziana scarab beetles are found only in colonies of Solenopsis fire ants where they feed on the ants and their brood. This beetle was collected from a red imported fire ant mound…
Myrmecos Blog at one year
Posted by Alex Wild on November 27, 2008 As a matter of coincidence, my first blogiversary falls on Thanksgiving day. Happy Thanks-Blog-Giving, then. Or something. I started out aiming my writing at a non-technical audience. So I featured insect photographs, simplified coverage of entomological news, and notes about photographic technique. But I’ve come to realize from various feedback that many of my regular…
In fine company
Posted by Alex Wild on November 25, 2008 My kind of people.
An intimate moment
Posted by Alex Wild on November 25, 2008 Rhagoletis fruit flies mating, Arizona photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D ISO 200, f/11, 1/200 sec, backlit by handheld strobe.
Myrmecology enters the age of genomics
Posted by Alex Wild on November 24, 2008 Last week the Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced that they will be funding Danny Reinberg, Shelley Berger, and Juergen Liebig to sequence three ant genomes. Their interest is research on aging, hoping that solving the puzzle of why genetically identical ant nestmates can either live for a year as a worker or twenty as a…
Sunday Night Movie
Posted by Alex Wild on November 23, 2008 Another one from miniscule. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N00rA1aFwJI]
A Directory of Friday Beetles
Posted by Alex Wild on November 23, 2008 I’ve posted enough Friday Beetles that I can no longer remember which species I’ve already done. Some species were almost posted twice out of sheer forgetfulness. Must be the academic scatter-brain. So to keep them all straight I’ve made a list. This is mostly for my own good. In any case, here is the Friday…