Alex Wild
awild
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October 24, 2008
Chrysochus auratus - Dogbane Leaf Beetle
New York
At first glance one might mistake the dogbane leaf beetle for a creature of the tropical jungle, an exotic jewel sought after by the most discerning of collectors. But no. It's a rather common beetle in northeastern North America, where it…
October 22, 2008
Adetomyrma sp. "mad-01", larvae and adults
Madagascar
With a name like "dracula ant" you'd think these waspy little Adetomyrma might suddenly lunge for your jugular. But they are shy creatures, drinking not the blood of hapless victims but sparingly from the hemolymph of their own larvae. It's…
October 22, 2008
Take that, vertebrate scum!
Incidentally, my wife used to have one of these Nephila spiders nesting in the high ceiling of her living room when she was living in Queensland. I guess she used it to dissuade potential suitors, but somehow I made it through.
October 21, 2008
Argentine ants tending scale insects
Three years after finishing my Ph.D., I have finally published the last bit of work from my dissertation. It's a multi-locus molecular phylogeny of the ant genus Linepithema, a group of mostly obscure Neotropical ants that would be overlooked if they didn't…
October 20, 2008
I've blogged a lot about lady beetles recently. That's because we have been inundated by them ever since moving to Illinois. The beetle deluge is not a good thing, though, as ours are nearly all Harmonia axyridis, an extraordinarily pesty species imported from Asia in what must rank as one of…
October 19, 2008
Count me among the skeptics who find that "DNA barcoding" is oversold for what it actually delivers. Nonetheless, here's a well-written piece about the approach in Wired.
October 17, 2008
Cycloneda munda - Polished Lady Beetle
Champaign, Illinois
It's a depressing time to be a lady beetle aficionado in the midwest. Most of the beetles I've seen around town are pesty invasives like the multi-colored lady beetle (from Asia) and the seven-spotted lady beetle (from Europe). But one…
October 16, 2008
Pheidole rugithorax Eguchi 2008 - Vietnam
In today's Zootaxa, Katsuyuki Eguchi has a taxonomic revision of the northern Vietnamese Pheidole, recognizing six new ant species for a genus that is already the world's most diverse. The revision also contains several nomeclatural changes and a key to…
October 15, 2008
Apparently, the world's worst superhero is Ant-Man. Great. That's exactly the kind of press we need.
October 14, 2008
Given the hypothermia I endured to shoot this Nothomyrmecia, I am pleased whenever I can put the photographs to work. Physical discomfort does pay off sometimes, although in hindsight it wasn't too bright of me to not have packed warm clothes for an ant that forages just above freezing. Here's…
October 14, 2008
Iridomyrmex reburrus
Highlights from the recent technical literature:
Savanna ants more resistant to fire than forest ants. Parr & Andersen. 2008. Fire resilience of ant assemblages in long-unburnt savanna of northern Australia. Austral Ecology. doi: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2008.01848
Abstract:…
October 12, 2008
Here's a question for my myrmecologist readers. Has anyone published observations of ritualized fighting among colonies of Pogonomyrmex harvester ants? I know such behavior was famously studied by Bert Hoelldobler in Myrmecocystus, and that ritual combat has been noted in Camponotus and…
October 10, 2008
Languria sp. Lizard Beetle (Erotylidae), California
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon D60
ISO 100, f/13, 1/200 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
October 8, 2008
Cataulacus brevisetosus - armored arboreal ant (Africa)
Cephalotes rohweri - armored arboreal ant (North America)
Tetraponera natalensis - elongate twig ant (Africa)
Pseudomyrmex pallidus - elongate twig ant (North America)
Plectroctena mandibularis - giant hunting ant (Africa)
Dinoponera…
October 6, 2008
Phrynoponera transversa Bolton & Fisher 2008
Gabon
Barry Bolton and Brian Fisher have revised the African ponerine genus Phrynoponera, in a monograph appearing today in Zootaxa. Phrynoponera are stout, heavily-armored predatory ants comprising a handful of poorly known species. Bolton and…
October 5, 2008
Coccinella septempunctata
This weekend's project: to shoot a beetle in flight. I chose ladybirds not because they are pretty, but because they are the slowiest, clumsiest beetles I could find in any number.  An easy target.
I had a cast of several beetles from two species, the seven-spotted…
October 3, 2008
Megacyllene robiniae - Locust Borer
Champaign, Illinois
Goldenrod flowers are a magnet for late summer insects, and among the most spectacular attractions is the locust borer, a wasp-striped longhorn beetle. They gather on the flowers to mate and to feed on pollen.
Megacyllene larvae are pests…
October 2, 2008
Prenolepis imparis - The Winter Ant
Champaign, Illinois
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon 20D
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
October 1, 2008
This morning I had to deny a scientist permission to use my photos of her ants in a paper headed for PLoS Biology. I hate doing that. Especially when I took those photos in part to help her to promote her research.
The problem is that PLoS content is managed under a Creative Commons (=CC)…
October 1, 2008
Lachnomyrmex amazonicus - Feitosa and Brandão 2008
The new world tropics continue to be a rich source of species discovery. Today's issue of Zootaxa contains a monograph by Rodrigo Feitosa and Beto Brandão revising the ant genus Lachnomyrmex, a small yet delightfully wrinkled group of soil-…
September 30, 2008
...are queens in the African driver ant genus Dorylus, captured on video here:
September 30, 2008
Phymata ambush bug - Champaign, Illinois
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon 20D
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
September 29, 2008
Heterospilus sp., head & compound eye, Costa Rica
Here are some shots from my training session this morning at the Beckman Institute's Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). I haven't used SEM for years- wow! Great fun. Click on each image to enlarge.
Heterospilus sp. mesosoma…
September 28, 2008
Via The Other 95% comes an absolutely charming animation set to the British public's opinion on evolution.
If the style looks familiar, it's from Nick Park, the creator of Wallace and Gromit.
September 27, 2008
Atta texana queen and worker
Ant queens are those individuals in a nest that lay the eggs. They're pretty important, of course, as without reproduction the colony dwindles and disappears.
Understandably, ant-keepers have an interest in making sure their pet colonies have queens. Conversely,…
September 26, 2008
The lab I work in at the University of Illinois has recently acquired funding for several graduate student positions. If you are considering a career in taxonomy, genomics, phylogenetics, biodiversity, tropical ecology, or parasitoid wasps, click here for information about the positions.
Ponder…
September 26, 2008
Popillia japonica - Champaign, Illinois
The ever colorful Popillia japonica has been in North America for nearly a century. In spite of an unmistakable charisma, the charms of this unintentional visitor are largely lost among the ruins of chewed up rose bushes, grape vines, and raspberry plants…
September 24, 2008
Can't devote much to blogging at the moment, but since we're feeling sorry for the dipterists this week here's a fly for you to look at:
Gall Midge, Cecidomyiidae - California
Maybe one of you fly folks could explain in the comments why Cecidomyiids are so cool. Aside from looking like little…