@Alex Wild
Entomologist, Natural History Collection Curator, and Photographer based in Austin, Texas.
Relays (1)
- wss://relay.ditto.pub – read & write
Recent Notes
Here is a citronella ant, one of the most aromatic of all insects. I really love these things.
New photo from western New York. #Ants #Insects #lasius
New photo from western New York. #Ants #Insects #lasius
Antlion pits on Sapelo Island, Georgia. #Insects #photography #SapeloIslandGa
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How much of an earthworm is considered the tail? I've always thought of them as being...
@nprofile1q... The paper linked in my first comment has a helpful diagram.
This is Psalidomyrmex. It is an African ant that hunts earthworms. Which, fair enough, is a habit that probably merits weird mandibles.
But I just learned they don't need to have slicing mandibles, just grabby ones, because earthworms drop their tails when attacked, so the ants just haul them off like they were harvesting fruit. #Ants #Insects #Biology #Psalidomyrmex
But I just learned they don't need to have slicing mandibles, just grabby ones, because earthworms drop their tails when attacked, so the ants just haul them off like they were harvesting fruit. #Ants #Insects #Biology #Psalidomyrmex
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Camponotus striatipes lives in Borneo and has amazing white knees. Why? I couldn't find the reason. Also, in each photo this ant has pressed herself flat on to a leaf with her gaster sideways. Maybe i...
@nprofile1q... This looks like a fungus-killed ant. Like, it's mimicking an Ophiocordyceps kill. Wonder if birds avoid those.
I know you have an excellent collection of photos of male ants. Here is one to put on your radar since it's like nothing I've ever seen before. nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq...
@nprofile1q... Wish I had an answer for this, but I don't think anyone knows. It's such a distinctive male.
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150 that we know of... but it's in a house so maybe it's a more normal one.
@nprofile1q... If I had to bet on this, I'd say maybe Camponotus atriceps or renggeri, based just one being in a house and being biggish.
It's in Brazil and it's not a tiny ant.
It's probably a carpenter ant? IDK. This isn't fair.
@nprofile1q... That's definitely a Camponotus, and since Brazil only has 150 species of those, and maybe about half are black, then it's one of only... 75 possibilities?
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A gallery of ant warfare. #insects #ants #photography https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Natural-History/Ants-fighting
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq53su4huygmnnkc0wvxvzmhmps46vw9hmqggq4v6e8jya5ejc6lxqlr49as Aussie here. Just pray the buggers don't bite you!
@nprofile1q... These ones are tolerable, compared to many of your other fine ants.
I recently learned that this Aussie ant species, Polyrhachis femorata, plays possum when threatened. But not just as individual ants.
The entirely colony self-contorts into death poses and just lays there like the aftermath of a creepy ant suicide cult.
#ants #science #Polyrhachis #insects
https://connectsci.au/zo/article/70/4/126/43567/Polyrhachis-femorata-Hymenoptera-Formicidae
The entirely colony self-contorts into death poses and just lays there like the aftermath of a creepy ant suicide cult.
#ants #science #Polyrhachis #insects
https://connectsci.au/zo/article/70/4/126/43567/Polyrhachis-femorata-Hymenoptera-Formicidae
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