Alex Wild
awild
Posts by this author
March 30, 2010
The New York Times on the changing face of the photography business:
Amateurs, happy to accept small checks for snapshots of children and sunsets, have increasing opportunities to make money on photos but are underpricing professional photographers and leaving them with limited career options.…
March 30, 2010
Who were those magical mystery insects?
The ant is Prenolepis imparis, recognizable by the attractive hourglass constriction in her mid-thorax. Congrats to Julie for the answer. The ant's hapless prey was, as Ted McRae proferred, a hackberry psyllid Pachypsylla celtidismamma (Hemiptera: Psyllidae…
March 30, 2010
Have Australians lost their fight against imported fire ants?
Despite $215Â million being poured into eradication programs nationally, fire ants have claimed territory in an arc from Logan City, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, to near Grandchester, about 80km west of where the first…
March 29, 2010
"Ah, an easy one!" you might think.
But no. I'm only handing out 4 points for identifying this common Illinois ant species. I'm more interested in this ant's quarry, for six points: 2 each for order, family, and genus. First correct guess in each category gets the points.
The cumulative point…
March 29, 2010
While photographing a Lasius alienus colony in the park yesterday I noticed a red, round mite hanging off the leg of this worker ant. I'm glad we humans don't have parasites like these.
Perhaps if we're really nice, Macromite will tell us something about the little guy.
Photo details: Canon MP-E…
March 28, 2010
I've moved some of my better termite photos to a new gallery at alexanderwild.com.
Go visit.
March 27, 2010
No, not really. I'm just kidding. Wouldn't it be great to have an ant field guide, though?
Off and on for the past couple years I've been playing with concepts. A potential format is this (click to download pdf):
The salient features, in my opinion:
Targeted at the general naturalist, so less…
March 26, 2010
Tenebrio molitor, pupa
Tenebrio molitor is a darkling beetle known more for its immature stages than for its adults. It is the ubiquitous mealworm. You can buy these granivorous beetles at any pet store as food for fish, birds, and reptiles.
The above shot of a developing pupa requires two…
March 25, 2010
Blatta orientalis
Oriental Cockroach
The key to this image is the soft lighting. A strobe fired into a white box produces an even white light, allowing us to see the subtler tones and textures on the surface of this common pest insect. You could almost sell this roach on ebay.
Photo details: Canon…
March 24, 2010
What was that dashing bug in pastel colors? As so many of you picked, it's a palmetto planthopper.
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Flatidae
Genus: Ormenaria
Species: rufifascia
Points are awarded as follows:
James Trager: 8 points
Chris Grinter: 5 points
And, one point each for TGIQ, Pete Yeeles, and Ted…
March 23, 2010
What am I doing this summer?
Good question. I'm teaching Integrative Biology 496: Introduction to Beekeeping.
If you are a University of Illinois student and would like to learn about the biology of Apis mellifera and how to manage a small apiary for honey or just for fun, please consider this 8-…
March 22, 2010
Tonight's mystery is a straight-up Name That Bug:
From central Florida, the mystery insect
One point for picking the order, two points for family, five points for genus, and five points for species. [added in edit- you've got to be first in any one category].
And guess what? We've finally decided…
March 22, 2010
The Nature Blog Network is the web's largest congregation of natural history enthusiasts and one of the finest places to find new bloggy reading. This week NBN interviews me as part of their Featured Blog series:
Whatâs the best thing about blogging?
Blogging is instantaneous. I can respond to new…
March 21, 2010
I had an assignment this weekend to shoot preserved insects as if in a museum display collection. Dead bugs aren't normally my thing, but there's something to be said about subjects that stay put and allow me to arrange lighting without scurrying off. I pinned the insects in foam-bottomed trays…
March 19, 2010
This week was warm enough to go insect hunting in the yard, so the Friday beetle is back with new material. I snapped a few shots of this little staphylinid under a brick, figuring I'd identify it later.
That turned out to be a more complicated process than I'd anticipated.
It's a member of the…
March 18, 2010
Harmonia axyridis, the Asian Multicolored Lady Beetle
If I had to pick the most annoying insect in Illinois it'd be Harmonia axyridis. This lady beetle was introduced to our continent as a control agent for aphids but became a pest in its own right. It consumes not just aphids but all manner of…
March 17, 2010
Not a fire ant.
But I'll give ten Myrmecos (â¢) points to the first person who can identify what species it really is.
March 16, 2010
Podomyrma sp.
Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia
Photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS D60
ISO 100, f13, 1/200 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
March 16, 2010
The magical mystery lump from last night? As many astute readers noted, they are insects in the enigmatic order Strepsiptera. They live as parasites in the bodies of other insects. Considering the host species (Isodontia mexicana, a sphecid wasp), the streps are probably in the genus Paraxenos.…
March 16, 2010
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…
March 15, 2010
Ok, so we all know this is a wasp. But what's with the lumps near the tip of the abdomen?
Ten points for identifying the lump, and five points for anyone ambitious enough to put a name on the wasp, too.
March 14, 2010
To create this video, I fed honey water to a captive colony of Camponotus pennsylvanicus carpenter ants and recorded them passing the liquid among nestmates. The sharing behavior is called trophallaxis, and it means more to ants than mere nutrition. They use the behavior to spread chemical…
March 13, 2010
Theodore Pergande (1840-1916)
Over 12,000 ant species have been described since the inception of modern taxonomy 252 years ago. From Formica rufa Linneaus 1758 to Paraparatrechina gnoma LaPolla & Cheng 2010, where did all those names come from?
Now it's easier than ever to find out. The…
March 12, 2010
Step 1. Replace Argentine Ants with Fire Ants.
Step 2. ???
Step 3. Profit!
March 11, 2010
Debbie: Sean Hannity Bugs Entomologists, Belittles-Bug Collection
Bug Girl: Fox News Fail
Hannah: Defending the land grants
March 10, 2010
Also, my first ever video blog:
Watch the HD version if you can. The ants are actually visible, if you squint.
March 10, 2010
At the time I photographed this little scene (at Bell Smith Springs, Illinois) I was myself unsure of the drama playing out on the oak gall. I sent pictures to wasp expert Hege VÃ¥rdal to see if my preliminary guess of a pair of gall parasites was worth anything. Her reply:
I believe that you are…
March 9, 2010
Watch beetle guru Anthony Cognato trying to deal with Fox News ignoramus Tucker Carlson:
It isn't news that Fox News isn't, um, news. Nor is it news that Fox can't grasp the benefits of public investment in knowledge creation- perhaps because actual knowledge is anathema to their business model.…