awild | April 25, 2009
Pogonomyrmex micans, Santiago del Estero, Argentina
Ants of the genus Pogonomyrmex ("Pogos") are known to myrmecologists as the classic harvester ants of North American deserts. They are conspicuous insects, the most noticeable of the desert ants, and something of a model organism for studies of ecology. Numerous scientific papers on pogos are published each year, and one species- Pogonomyrmex californicus- is mailed to school classrooms around the country to populate those plastic ant farms.
It's easy to forget amidst the celebrated riches of North American pogos that South America…
awild | April 23, 2009On the homepage of the Proceedings of the Royal Society? Really?
I expect this kind of screwup in, say, USA Today, but a major scientific society really ought to have someone on staff who can correctly identify a honeybee.
awild | April 18, 2009
Mycocepurus smithii: an ant without males?
An image I took a couple years ago at UT Austin is featured today in Nat Geo's "Photo in the News". This laboratory nest was one of the colonies screened in Anna Himler's study to determine that the species is parthenogenetic.
One correction to the Nat Geo article. Mycocepurus are not leafcutter ants themselves but part of an earlier radiation of fungus-growers.
awild | April 16, 2009I never met Carl Rettenmeyer.
I regret this.  Rettenmeyer forms a part of my heritage as an ant photographer.  As a kid, my first exposure to army ants came through Rettenmeyer's stunning imagery in Ranger Rick magazine. His photos adorn the pages of E. O. Wilson's 1971 classic The Insect Societies as well as the later tome The Ants.  Before I ever picked up a camera, or even considered myrmecology as a career, Rettenmeyer's ants were well seared into my memory.  They still simmer there, forming a mental backdrop for thoughts of army ants.
So as a tribute of sorts, I've…
awild | April 15, 2009
Messor capensis nests, as seen by The Google
Over at Photo Synthesis, commentator Kate directs our attention to Messor capensis, a South African seed harvester whose nests from the air look like some form of fungal growth. Except much, much bigger. (coordinates here: 33° 36â57.32âS, 22° 08â06.38âE)
I've only got one really crappy photo of the beast, but I'll subject you to it anyway:
More Google Earth ants here and here.
awild | April 14, 2009It is due in large part to Rettenmeyer's tireless tracking of army ants through all manner of tangled tropical jungle, for months on end, that we know as much as we do about those creatures. We've lost a real giant of myrmecology.
awild | April 13, 2009Here's a heat map showing the intensity of Myrmecos blog visitors over the last 24 hours:
As a reminder, I'm blogging this month over at Photo Synthesis. Posts in the past week have included bits on ant diversity, phorid flies, google earth, and whirligig beetles.
awild | April 11, 2009
Amyrmex: Dolichoderinae? Leptanilloidinae? Who knew?
A paper out this week in Zootaxa reminds us of the hazards of excessive reliance on the worker caste for ant taxonomy. Phil Ward and Seán Brady sequenced DNA from few genes from the enigmatic Amyrmex, a rarely-collected dolichoderine genus known only from males in South America. Except, it wasn't a dolichoderine. Surprise! Genetically, this little guy is part of the doryline section (the army ants and relatives) in the Leptanilloidinae.
Where did we go wrong with Amyrmex? In my opinion, it's in our dysfunctional dependence on…
awild | April 9, 2009
Myrmecos seems to have caught the eye of the editors at ScienceBlogs, and I've been contracted to inaugurate a new photography site for their network. Photo Synthesis will be a rotating showcase of science imagery:
The internet is home to a wealth of captivating science images, from the many microscopic components of a cell to the remote corners of the universe captured by Hubble. On Photo Synthesis, we aim to bring you the best of what's out there. Every month we will feature the work of a different photoblogger, exposing worlds both small and large, familiar and exotic. We will let the…
awild | April 9, 2009Sorry to keep harping on Hoelldobler & Wilson's The Superorganism. But Wilson's section on ant evolution is so bad, so out of touch with the state of the field that I can't help but to rant.
Both Chapter 7 (The Rise of the Ants) and Chapter 8 (Ponerine Ants: The Great Radiation) are predicated on the argument that certain groups of poneromorph ants form a clade. In defense of this assumption, Wilson writes (page 322):
...Barry Bolton has recently split Ponerinae into seven subfamilies (Ponerinae, Amblyponinae, Ectatomminae, Heteroponerinae, Paraponerinae, Proceratiinae, and the fossil…
awild | April 8, 2009
...whose arrival is apparently scored with new-age music and accompanied by your choice of beverage. Be warned.
awild | April 6, 2009This weekend's various themes included hard drive failure, federal income taxes, and a wayward National Geographic film crew. We've put out most of the larger fires, but at the expense of blogging, I'm afraid.
On the bright side, we have some exciting news to announce in a day or two.
awild | April 2, 2009
Hikers at Purmamarca
Bits and pieces of landscapes, northern Argentina, March 2009.
El Palmar National Park
Cardon cactus, Amaicha del Valle
Termas de Reyes, Jujuy
Copina, Córdoba
Soybeans, ad infinitum
Purmamarca market
Purmamarca market
Purmamarca
Infiernillos, Tucuman
high desert, after late summer rains
On the road
awild | April 2, 2009
Kalathomyrmex emeryi (Forel 1907), Argentina.
In Zootaxa last week, Christiana Klingenberg and Beto Brandão introduced to the world an entirely new genus of fungus-growing ant, Kalathomyrmex. Yet the single species, K. emeryi, is a widespread neotropical insect that has been known for over a century. In fact, I photographed it twice during my recent trip to Argentina. How does this happen, a new genus devoid of novel species?
The answer is understandable in light of the distinct pattern of evolution among the fungus growing ants, revealed in a 2008 study by Ted Schultz and Sean Brady…
awild | April 1, 2009
This afternoon NPR is running an entertaining bit on Ed Wilson's research on how ants identify their deceased nestmates.
Plus, they seem to have made a LOLant out of one of my Odontomachus photos.