needle ants

I see that Pachycondyla chinensis, which people are apparently calling "The Asian Needle Ant", is making headlines this week. I know very little about P. chinensis, but the ant is apparently becoming widespread in the Southeast.  Rob Dunn's lab at NCSU researches the species and has put up a page about it. Also, check out Benoit Guenard's P. chinensis photo gallery. (Incidentally, Rob Dunn has a new book out about biological discovery.  It looks excellent.  I'll write more about this later, once I get my hands on a copy.)