insects
grrlscientist | May 25, 2007tags: insects, cicada, streaming video
In case you haven't heard yet, the cicadas are coming this year. In the next few months you will be hearing about the impending emergence of the 17 year cicada, mistakenly called 17 year locusts. If you don't remember the last outbreak, or if you are new to the east coast, you need to know a few facts about this periodic phenomenon.
Cicadas are large, plant-feeding insects. They have clear wings and are known for making a very loud noise. When tens of thousands of cicadas are singing at the same time the sound is quite loud and annoying. Be prepared for…
grrlscientist | May 24, 2007tags: insects, hive mind, Insect Warrior, streaming video
This streaming video is a mini-documentary showing how humanity appears to be headed towards the hive-mind of the social insects. Is this really what we want to become? [3:39].
grrlscientist | May 19, 2007tags: Trypanosoma evansi, parasite, wasting disease, Tabanus, Australia, conservation
A PhD student from James Cook University in Australia hopes her research will help protect Australian wildlife from an exotic wasting disease that could devastate kangaroos and other endemic marsupials.
Kirsty Van Hennekeler has spent four years studying Surra, the disease caused by a parasite that lives in mammalian blood. This parasite, Trypanosoma evansi, causes fever, weakness, and lethargy in its victims and can lead to weight loss, anaemia and even death of infected animals. It is thought this parasite…
grrlscientist | May 18, 2007tags: mosquito, DNA, Aedes
After recently mapping all the DNA, or genome, of the mosquito that spreads yellow and dengue fever, scientists were surprised to find it is more complex than the genome of the mosquito that carries malaria. Scientists plan to use this information to help them battle disease.
Researchers published the genome yesterday for the mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which spreads disease in tropical and sub-tropical locales worldwide as it feeds on human blood. The mosquito's genome could guide researchers' efforts to develop new insecticides or to create genetically engineered…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2007
Can you image how much patience is required to photograph ants?
Formica aserva
Northern Sierra Nevada, California, USA
Formica aserva, a slave-raiding ant.
Photographer: Alexander Wild, 2003.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice to either preserve these…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2007tags: preying mantis, mouse, streaming video
Do you think it is weird that an insect could eat a mammal? Well, it happens, although not commonly. In this case, I have a streaming video that shows a preying mantis hunting and then eating a mouse. I sure wish I had a flock of preying mantids in my apartment; they'd defintely be well-fed there!
grrlscientist | April 30, 2007
Can you image how much patience is required to photograph ants?
Formica incerta
Gannett Hill, Ontario Co., New York, USA
Photographer: Alexander Wild, 2003.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice to either preserve these species or to destroy them in search of…
grrlscientist | April 29, 2007
Can you image how much patience is required to photograph ants?
Rhytidoponera metallica -- Greenhead ant
Victoria, Australia.
Portrait of a metallic green ant.
Photographer: Alexander Wild, 2005.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice to either preserve these…
grrlscientist | April 28, 2007
Can you image how much patience is required to photograph ants?
Neivamyrmex opacithorax -- Army Ant Queen
Arizona, USA
A worker army ant (top left) carries a queen army ant in the same style as army ants carry brood and prey items, slung under the body and dragged across the substrate. Notice the difference in size among the workers, and between the workers and the queen.
Photographer: Alexander Wild, 2005.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of…
grrlscientist | April 27, 2007
Can you image how much patience is required to photograph ants?
Eciton burchelli -- army ant
Captive colony at the California Academy of Sciences
(from Trinidad)
Army ants on the run.
Photographer: Alexander Wild, 2004.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice…
grrlscientist | April 26, 2007
Can you image how much patience is required to photograph ants?
Eciton sp.
Male wing venation, inverted color.
Photographer: Alexander Wild, 2003.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice to either preserve these species or to destroy them in search of short-…
grrlscientist | April 25, 2007
Can you image how much patience is required to photograph ants?
Linepithema humile -- The Argentine ant
Northern California, USA
A foraging trail of Argentine ants.
Photographer: Alexander Wild, 2005.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice to either preserve…
grrlscientist | April 24, 2007
Can you image how much patience is required to photograph ants?
Sphinctomyrmex froggatti
Victoria, Australia.
The distinct constrictions of the abdomen are diagnostic for Sphinctomyrmex ants.
Photographer: Alexander Wild, 2006.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a…
grrlscientist | April 23, 2007
Can you image how much patience is required to photograph ants?
Portrait of a Mystrium ant, her mandibles held open.
Photographer: Alexander Wild, 2006.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice to either preserve these species or to destroy them in search of…
mikethemadbiologist | April 23, 2007ScienceBlogling Mike Dunford has an interesting post asking whether we should save an endemic Hawaiian plant, the williwilli. It's a good post, but I have two comments, one silly and one serious. The silly comment is that how could anyone let a plant named the williwilli become extinct? It's so damn cute (and is the plural williwillies?) Onto the serious point.
The reason that the williwilli is in trouble is because an invasive, non-native gall wasp is parasitizing the williwilli. Mike writes:
...if the invasive species outcompetes the natives, resulting in the extinction of the native…
grrlscientist | April 22, 2007
Can you image how much patience is required to photograph ants?
Amblyopone australis
Victoria, Australia.
Photographer: Alexander Wild, 2005.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice to either preserve these species or to destroy them in search of short-term…
grrlscientist | April 16, 2007tags: bees, cell phones, electromagnetic radiation
I've heard a lot of strange hypotheses in my life, but this one is one of the strangest: mobile phones may be wiping out bees. How? According to the hypothesis, radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing them from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there apparently is evidence to back this up.
Jochen Kuhn, a scientist at Landau University, Germany, recently found that bees do not return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby.…
grrlscientist | April 4, 2007
Orthodera ministralis; Australian Green Mantis (Mantidae). Melbourne, Australia
A young mantis cleans pollen grains from her foreleg by running the leg through her mouthparts.
Photographer: Alexander Wild.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice to either…
grrlscientist | March 20, 2007
A transgenic mosquito carrying a gene that confers resistance to the malaria parasite. These mosquitoes had another gene inserted into them to make their eyes fluoresce, to distinguish them from unmodified insects. (Image: PNAS)
A genetically modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects.
The transgenic insect strain carries a gene that prevents infection by the malaria parasite. This provides new hope for one malaria control strategy where the transgenic insects are released into the wild and they then take…
clock | March 8, 2007Jonah points to link by Kottke to series of close-up photos of insects splatered on windshields. The images are truly cool and not gross at all.
This immediately reminded me of a funny, yet excellent book I read a few years ago, That Gunk on Your Car: A Unique Guide to Insects of North America by Mark Hostetler, which helps you identify the insects by the shape, size and color of the splatter they leave on your windshield.