Insect Links
awild | April 25, 2008A few of the many species described by Roy Snelling:
Myrmecocystus tenuinodis Snelling 1976
Stenamma dyscheres Snelling 1973
Neivamyrmex wilsoni Snelling & Snelling 2007
awild | April 24, 2008
Eusattus dilatatus - dune darkling beetle (Tenebrionidae)
California, USA
Sand dunes are an unusual habitat, and the creatures found on them are equally odd. One of the more charismatic dune endemics is Eusattus dilatatus, a large darkling beetle found in southern California. This scavenging insect has long legs for digging and a waxy cuticle to prevent dessication.
Eusattus is not the easiest photographic subject. It seemed uncomfortable out in the open and would burrow as soon as I placed it on the sand. The series below spans 30 seconds.
**update** Tenebrionid expert Kojun Kanda…
awild | April 22, 2008
Proceratium californicum
San Mateo Co., California
From Antweb:
This rarely collected ant is known from valley oak (Quercus lobata) riparian woodland in the Central Valley and from adjacent foothill localities (oak woodland; chaparral; grassland). It is presumed to be a specialist, subterranean predator on spider eggs. Alates have been collected in April and May.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon D60
f/13, 1/200 sec, ISO 100, twin flash diffused through tracing paper
awild | April 21, 2008
Areolate
In 1979, Rick Harris wrote a definitive paper illustrating the various terms used by taxonomists to describe the intricate patterns on the insect exoskeleton. His guide is tremendously helpful to those of us who struggle to decide if those ridges on the head of an ant are strigate or costate. Via Sifolinia, I now see that Harris's illustrations are available online:
A Glossary of Surface Sculpturing
Incidentally, Rick was the guy who taught me how to use a Scanning Electron Microscope, although at this point it'd be a minor miracle if I remembered any of it.
awild | April 20, 2008
Velvet ants- which aren't really ants at all- are wingless wasps that parasitize ground-nesting bees. They are attractive insects, bearing bright colors and cute frizzy hair. But in case you are ever tempted to pick up one of those cuddly-looking little guys, let the photo above serve as a reminder about what lies at the tail end: an unusually long, flexible stinger. As you can see, the wasp is capable of swinging it back over her shoulder, with perfect aim, to zing the forceps. The venom is potent, and in some parts of the U.S. these insects are called "Cow-Killers". As is always the…
awild | April 18, 2008
Araeoschizus sp. Ant Beetle (Tenebrionidae)
California
Araeoschizus is a small genus of darkling beetle that both resembles ants and lives close to ant nests. It occurs in the arid western regions of North America. Not much is known about the nature of the association of these beetles with the ants, but they may subsist on the refuse of harvester ant colonies.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon 20D
f/13, 1/250 sec, ISO 100, twin flash diffused through tracing paper
Beetles collected by Kojun Kanda.
awild | April 15, 2008
Forelius mccooki (small ants) & Pogonomyrmex desertorum
Tucson, Arizona
In last August's National Geographic, photographer Mark Moffett has a controversial photo essay depicting a large, motionless harvester ant being worked over by smaller Dorymyrmex workers. Moffett's interpretation of the behavior is this:
While observing seed-harvester ants on the desert flats west of Portal, Arizona, I noticed workers would approach a nest of a tiny, unnamed species of the genus Dorymyrmex. A harvester would rise up on her legs with abdomen lifted and jaws agape, seemingly frozen in place. Soon…
awild | April 14, 2008
Daceton boltoni Azorsa & Sosa-Calvo 2008
Iquitos, Peru
If I had to make a list of the most beautiful ants in the world, the honey-colored trap-jaw ant Daceton armigerum would be near the top. Daceton is an unmistakable insect: large, graceful, spiny, with bulging eyes and a heart-shaped head. They live in the canopy of Amazonian rain forests and, like several other canopy ants, are able to glide back to a tree trunk if dislodged from their foraging trails. As the impressive jaws suggest, these ants are largely predatory.
Daceton has been known to myrmecologists by a single species, D…
awild | April 14, 2008
I can't imagine a more unpleasant way to go. This poor oleander aphid (Aphis nerii) has its innards sucked out by a hoverfly larva.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon 20D
f/13, 1/250 sec, ISO 100
MT-24EX flash diffused through tracing paper
levels adjusted in Photoshop.
awild | April 13, 2008
The Argentine Ant (Linepithema humile), a small brown ant about 2-3mm long, is one of the world's most damaging insects. This pernicious ant is spreading to warmer regions around the world from its natal habitat along South America's Paraná River. Linepithema humile can drive native arthropods to extinction, instigating changes that ripple through ecosystems. In California, horned lizard populations plummet. In South Africa, plant reproduction is disrupted. Worldwide, the Argentine ant is a persistent house and crop pest. This is not a good ant.
My Ph.D. dissertation, completed a few…
awild | April 11, 2008
Temnoscheila Bark-Gnawing Beetle, Arizona
Trogossitidae
This colorful insect arrived to a blacklight in my backyard a couple of years back, right when I first moved to Tucson. Previously I'd encountered Temnoscheila only under the bark of dead trees, where they apparently prey on the larvae of other beetles. I've always wondered why a beetle that spends most of its time secluded in the dark would need such a brilliant metallic sheen, if the color serves a purpose or is just a spandrel. In any case, this beetle ended up donating its body to science. It is one of several representative…
awild | April 10, 2008Not much posting this week. I've been busy getting genetic data from a new batch of specimens for the Beetle Tree of Life project, a process that's always slower than I expect.
Fortunately it turns out that the internet has sites other than mine, and some of those even have interesting things to read and pretty pictures to look at. Here's what I recommend:
Christopher Taylor discusses the follicle mites that live in your skin.
Ajay Narendra has added some new Meranoplus photos to his ant gallery.
Aydin Ãrstan writes that the Nautilus is still evolving.
Mike Kaspari asks about books that…
awild | April 7, 2008
Deserts are difficult places to live for more reasons than just drought and heat. During dry seasons deserts are relatively inactive, and there's not much around for animals to eat. To survive times of dearth, several lineages of desert ants have taken to harvesting plant seeds in the brief periods of bounty that follow rains. If stored properly, grains keep for years and can provide the colony with ample resources during times when the deserts are dry.
This past week the stubby carpet of spring grasses in our normally barren back yard started going to seed. After months of dormancy,…
awild | April 6, 2008
How does a newly speciating ant prevent backcrossing with its parental species? A new study in the journal Evolution by Schwander et al. investigates four hypotheses using the Pogonomyrmex rugosus/barbatus hybrid speciation system, finding support for three of them. Apparently the daughter species maintains its genetic distinctness from a parent species by mating at a different time, mating preferentially with its own species, and by having a much lowered ability to produce viable offspring.
In my opinion, the story of these hybrid harvester ant species is among the most interesting pieces…
awild | April 4, 2008Check out Khaleph's pictures of a Lasius queen killed by a Tachinid fly parasitoid.
awild | April 4, 2008
Epicauta pardalis - spotted blister beetle
Tucson, Arizona
Here's a beetle so toxic it can kill a horse. The horse doesn't even need to ingest the beetle, it just needs to ingest something that the beetle bled on. Blister beetles produce the defensive compound cantharadin- the active ingredient of the aphrodesiac Spanish Fly- which they reflex-bleed out their joints when threatened:
photo details (top) Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens on a Canon 20D
f/13, 1/250 sec, ISO 100, indirect strobe in white box.
(bottom) Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon 20D
f/13, 1/250 sec, ISO 100, flash…
awild | April 3, 2008Back in 2002 when I used the Nikon Coolpix 995 for everything, I would occasionally play around with the camera's very basic video mode. The 995 made small, grainy movies without sound, and most of the videos I took are, well, pretty bad. But the camera had impressive macro abilities, which meant it could shoot ants close-in. Here's a movie of a Dinoponera from the Mbaracayú Forest Reserve in Paraguay:
awild | April 2, 2008
Acromyrmex versicolor - the desert leafcutter
Here's the original:
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon 20D
f/13, 1/250 sec, ISO 100
MT24-EX twin flash diffused through tracing paper
Photoshop modification (top photo): desaturated yellows
increased contrast, burned edges, and added noise