Off to South Africa

I'm leaving shortly for the 2008 International Congress of Entomology in Durban, South Africa. This means another break from the blog for me, but when I return in mid-July there will be plenty of African insect photos.  St. Lucia, where I'm headed the week before the conference, has African weaver ants, Polyrhachis, Tetraponera, and host of other photogenic critters.  Apparently, they also have a problem with inappropriate mingling of wheelchairs and crocodiles (photo in St. Lucia by flickr user Chuha):

Fortunately, you won't be left all alone at Myrmecos blog.  Jo-anne will be guest-blogging for the next couple of weeks.

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dude is that sign for real? That's awesome, well not for the wheelchair-bound headed towards crocodiles I guess! It's some kind of pop-art.... I wonder if the gators sit around and are like here comes another one,... that's what you call fast food. Sorry couldn't resist.

Oh man, have fun! If any small fungus beetles in the genus Dictydiella should happen to cross your path, please don't hesitate to seize them and plunge them into 95% EtOH. You know, just in case. WILL TRADE AUSTRALIAN ANTS FOR SA LEIODIDS. :)

BugGirl (http://membracid.wordpress.com/) sent me over here. Sorry to have missed you. I have a question:

I found an ant this afternoon exhibiting weird circling behaviour; running clockwise in a small circle. I was able to get a video of it.

I've posted it, with the details, on my blog, at http://wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2008/07/woah-what-is-this-all-about.h…

If you have a moment, could you look at it and tell us what you think?

Thanks!