Hello ScienceBlogs!

For a second time, that is. Some of you may remember me from Photo Synthesis, where I guest blogged for a bit a year ago. I am happy to be invited back to the borg!

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Myrmecos is not a new blog. Rather, we have been over at Wordpress since 2007. I say "we", because the blog has evolved to become more of a community. Myrmecologists (= ant scientists) smarter than I hang out in the comments and submit guest posts, and there's a gang of top-notch nature bloggers over at Wordpress carrying on a stream of apparently continuous conversation across blogs of which Myrmecos is but one little part. Kind of like here, now that I think of it. You may find many of my fellow nature-blogging sites linked in the left sidebar.

For those new to Myrmecos, what we do here is ants. And photography. Sometimes beetles and wasps. Plus a smattering of phylogenetics, social insect biology, and entomology. We have a beetle every Friday and an entomological mystery contest every Monday night.

For those following the original blog, we'll be carrying on much as before. But in a different font, if you can stand it. Please update your bookmarks! I'll have the new RSS feed shortly.

I've done my best to import old posts and comments- we had some minor setbacks- and due to circumstances I have omitted the comments for the preceding three posts. My apologies to those of you who said anything witty or insightful only to have it vanish.

Why the move? To be blunt, Scienceblogs draws a larger readership than Wordpress. By relocating Myrmecos, we bring the ants a step closer to world domination.

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[update]
Never mind the bit about ants. I've been informed by higher powers that what we'll be doing here is, um, squid.

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Welcome back. Looking forward to having your full blog here.

Welcome back.

By relocating Myrmecos, we bring the ants a step closer to world domination.

An ant step or one of your steps? Makes quite a difference regarding the actual distance.

By Phillip IV (not verified) on 13 Apr 2010 #permalink

Insert obligatory Kent Brockman quote here.

We've been antsy for you to get here for a long time!

By relocating Myrmecos, we bring the ants a step closer to world domination.

It will also make it even harder than it already is to get at your Monday Mystery before all the points are snarfed up!

Congratulations - great move.

Congratulations, Alex! A well deserved move and, as you point out, a great opportunity to broaden your readership.

Congrat's Alex. However, all your ant photo's will now have to compete for attention with flat-tummy ad's...

No contest!

All links and feeds updated.

Congrats Alex! You'll represent all entomologists well! Not sure I can deal with this new font though... too much change makes me start rocking in the corner! :)

PZ says you are a good guy, except you need more squid.

By ThirtyFiveUp (not verified) on 13 Apr 2010 #permalink

"By relocating Myrmecos, we bring the ants a step closer to world domination."

Where most people actually try to get rid of the little buggers...

Welcome to the Collective! I am in awe of your photography.

By relocating Myrmecos, we bring the ants a step closer to world domination.

Well, you picked a good time to do it. The fire ants are already going strong this year on their way to world domination, and they do have ways of making life a pain sometimes if you are not careful where you step.

Your first picture is ... a slave maker? I guess you were serious about that world domination thing!

Aratina- ah, good to hear that the fire ants are doing my bidding, the little darlings...

And thanks, all, for the warm welcome!

So glad to see you here. My children and I enjoyed reading about the ants and seeing the photos.

Hey, Alex, I figured it out! :-) XXXMom

Whoo!

I love ants. Myrmecology is one of my favorite sciences to read about outside of my own area.

A myrmecology blog is exactly what Scienceblogs needed.

Welcome...ants and squid. Do you do zombies too?

Sharon

Sharon: I'd love to do zombies, but where are they when you need them? Every time I order from Carolina Biological Supply, they're backordered.

Zombie Ants?

Cool.

That will show the cursed invicta.

The adult female inserts a single egg into a worker ant with a hypodermic-style ovipositor in a rapid aerial attack. The egg is inserted into the thorax region, and the larva migrates to the head capsule of the worker. There are three instars, during which time worker ants appear to behave normally until just before pupariation. At pupariation, the tissue inside the ant's head capsule is consumed, killing the ant in the process. The ant's head usually falls off, and the mouth parts are pushed away so that the puparium is visible inside the oral cavity. The pupa completes development in the head capsule, and the adult fly emerges from the oral cavity.

http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/parasitoids/pseudacteon.ht…

By OrchidGrowinMan (not verified) on 13 Apr 2010 #permalink

If you folks insist on Zombie Ants, I have a couple old posts from the Photosynthesis blog here and here...

Yea I'm glad you're here, I love the ants,ants, revolution! (more coleopterids and photos please....)

I just stumbled by from Pharyngula. Welcome! It's nice to have more entomologists around and I know next to nothing about ants (I'm a quasi-Dipterist myself).

An ant blog? Yay! I almost became an entomologist because I loved ants (and other insects) so much while growing up. Looking forward to your posts, even the ones with non-ants. Welcome!

Welcome back, Alex!

By Isis the Scientist (not verified) on 14 Apr 2010 #permalink

Welcome to the colony. Now, get to work or I'll pull your antennae off!

Hey I just watched "Them" the other day. Great movie. Post nuclear ants. The entomology was actually not too bad given when the movie was made, and that it was a cheesy scifi movie.