tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25982925833465028592024-03-05T17:53:35.514+00:00Sifolinia's AntBlogMostly myrmecological musingsSifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-5995938349877378832013-08-28T23:54:00.000+01:002013-08-29T00:08:10.869+01:00Common Swift Pelopidas
Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve, Northern Territory, Australia
This is either Lyell's swift Pelopidas lyelli or a dingy swift P. agna, both referred to as the common swift. Or it's a rice swift Borbo cinnara, but it seems a bit unlikely.
As you can tell, I know nothing about Australian butterflies, other than what I've been able to glean so far from Michael Braby's Butterflies of Australia. Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0Middle Point NT, Australia-12.570377462449823 131.31242524340814-12.578126462449823 131.30234024340814 -12.562628462449823 131.32251024340815tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-18465554726372219162013-08-27T21:55:00.002+01:002013-08-28T23:54:34.833+01:00Comedy spider
Oh, look: dumb photographer.
Wait, who's that?
Wow!
Taken at Jindalba, Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia.Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1Cow Bay QLD 4873, Australia-16.237791068761137 145.43413639068604-16.241602568761138 145.42909389068603 -16.233979568761136 145.43917889068604tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-79945304173697972592013-06-06T23:08:00.002+01:002013-06-06T23:12:03.081+01:00Lasius niger on peony flower budsThis is a new behaviour for me, so perhaps others can fill me in.
We have two different peonies in our garden planted right next to each other; either different species or varieties. The flower buds on one of them is currently covered in black garden ants Lasius niger, which are clearly attending them for some reason. The other peony has no ants - not one - on the flower buds.
I spent some timeSifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-11415985597069370432013-04-14T22:44:00.001+01:002013-04-14T22:44:11.824+01:00Myrmica slovaca
Myrmica slovaca worker
This is further evidence that my large backlog of ant specimens really needs dealing with!
This specimen is clearly Myrmica slovaca, due to the narrow frons, scape and petiole shape. It was previously erroneously regarded as M. salina in Europe, but this was recently resolved by Radchenko and Elmes (2010), who found that it is quite different from true M. salina. Even Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-81294168673380462972013-03-31T23:15:00.000+01:002013-04-14T22:36:58.489+01:00Bothriomyrmex corsicus
Bothriomyrmex corsicus worker
It's been a long time since I've posted anything (the effect of getting married and renovating a house). I thought that this was worth breaking a three year habit.
By all accounts, Bothriomyrmex species seem to be pretty uncommon, so I'm pleased that the first one I found is the second, not the first, most common in Europe. Bothriomyrmex taxonomy was in a very Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-91765712321174211002010-06-13T14:05:00.004+01:002010-06-13T14:39:32.780+01:00Agapanthia villosoviridescensLast week I was on a canal boat holiday. The highlight of the whole trip (in my mind) was this beetle, Agapanthia villosoviridescens, which was photographed on Claire's finger. It wasn't so much that it is pretty (though it evidently is), it was that when handled it made a very audible squeak.Closer observation showed that when it squeaked it also moved its pronotum relative to its elytra, Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-52588136321427959442009-11-23T13:44:00.004+00:002009-11-23T14:01:16.682+00:00Rickia wasmannii everywhereThanks to John Pontin for pointing out the Rickia infested ant in one of this years Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. I had the portfolio at home, but hadn't noticed the fungus on the ant. It's a bit hard to tell from the online image, but is really quite clear when it's a bit bigger.I'm thinking that the ant is probably Myrmica rubra. As far as I know, R. wasmannii has not been Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-88842478017697716312009-10-15T00:01:00.002+01:002009-10-15T17:49:13.994+01:00Blog Action Day 2009Those nice folks at Blog Action Day don't seem to know how to make things simple. Kittens. If they decided to make kittens the subject I'd be able to write a nice concise blog on why kittens are important. Instead I'm left to ponder how to cover undoubtedly the biggest issue of our time: climate change.The trouble is that with a subject this big, it's hard to know what to write. After weeks of Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-15978244458847208522009-10-12T20:41:00.003+01:002009-10-12T21:02:36.239+01:00Rickia wasmannii in the UKDid anyone else notice the photograph on Plate 8 of the 'Ants of Surrey', captioned 'A rare variety of M. sabuleti with unusually shaped hairs? I'd had the book for ages and not paid any attention to it until a few weeks back. The unusually shaped hairs looked remarkably familiar to me.I emailed John Pontin, to see if he had any specimens of these ants. After a bit of a mix-up over my address (Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-40524278497411244922009-08-02T11:35:00.006+01:002009-08-02T17:26:01.475+01:00Lasius neglectus found in the UKAccording to a BBC News report released yesterday the invasive species Lasius neglectus has been found in Gloucestershire in the UK.For those who are unaware of L. neglectus, it is a relatively newly discovered invasive ant species. It has been marching across Europe and, because it does not seem to be too bothered by cold conditions, a number of myrmecologists have been predicting that it will Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-59477866846214311752009-07-31T21:42:00.016+01:002010-05-18T22:33:13.869+01:00Swiss ant listI visited Switzerland in June 2009 and have started to work through the specimens collected. This list will grow over the next few months and I'll try to get some photographs of the more interesting species up.Dolichoderinae     Tapinoma          erraticumFormicinae     Camponotus       Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-81176224940219830272009-07-30T21:34:00.004+01:002009-07-30T21:47:22.604+01:00Competition timeMy first ever competition, and it's a tricky one!Can anyone correctly identify the ant in the photograph? I'll start the competition with no clues and we'll see how it goes. (I'll probably find out if anyone's still reading this blog after my months of absence.)I'll send a hard copy of my next paper (which will probably be about this ant) to the first person to correctly identify it to species Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-16172841175042149742009-07-24T13:55:00.000+01:002009-07-24T14:00:03.693+01:00No apologiesI will not make excuses for not blogging recently.I will not make excuses for not blogging recently.I will not mkae excuses for not blogging recently.I will not make excuses for not bloging recently.I will not make excuses for not blogging recently.I will not make excuses for not blogging recently...Ant work resumed again last night. Blogs may follow.Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-83505919175802926432009-03-04T17:18:00.012+00:002009-03-04T23:04:01.392+00:00Selenochlamys ysbrydaWay too many things stopping me from posting at the moment, from my computer dying completely (thankfully it turned out that I only needed to reset the bios to repair it) to major, if welcome, distractions. I'm sure that things will settle down eventually, but for now I'm anticipating ants taking a back seat. I know: it truly is a scary thing to consider.Back in July I reported on a species new Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-47509156964768866092009-01-04T16:42:00.018+00:002009-08-02T17:27:05.242+01:00New year, new home, new job, new speciesApologies for the lack of recent posts. I moved at the end of November to start a new job in Talgarth, Wales. Following my move it took my ISP a whole month to set up my connection here, with a lot of extended phone calls and a rather long and comprehensive written complaint from me to get them to sort it out as quick as they did. Needless to say I am not best pleased with the company.One rather Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-34906750951123064392008-11-08T21:37:00.006+00:002008-11-08T23:44:00.501+00:00Another picture from CromhallI was concentrating on the sawfly at the time, but I think it is the fly that draws the eye in this photograph. I don't think I realised how attractive it was at the time - it's just a fly after all.I think the sawfly is a species of Athalia (see comment). At one point it would have been easy to identify it as A. rosae, but it appears that there may have been some revisions to the genus. My best Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-28918392647769937912008-10-18T16:53:00.021+01:002008-10-18T17:58:57.894+01:00Things that aren't waspsThough it wasn't my intention to begin with, this neatly follows on from Bug Girl's posts Things that aren’t bees (#1) and (#2).One of my colleagues spotted both male and female Phasia hemiptera along the road at work, so the next day I brought in my camera to try to get some photographs of what is probably one of the UK's prettiest flies. I've since discovered that very few photographs of P. Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-2645056683191306992008-10-17T20:17:00.005+01:002008-10-17T23:42:36.016+01:00Entomophthora muscaeThe largest part of the autumn fungus fruiting season may have passed in the UK, or at least where I live, but there are still a few things around, if you're prepared to look closely for them.Yes, it's a fly (I don't know which species), but it is a fly with a fungal parasite, Entomophthora muscae. The fungus grows inside the fly, eventually reaching the fly's brain and influencing its behaviour.Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-25451464532289651752008-10-15T00:00:00.000+01:002008-10-15T00:00:01.810+01:00Blog Action Day: PovertyThis year Blog Action Day is about poverty. 'Keep your post related to your regular blog topic' they say.However, linking ants to poverty seems impossible. The best I could come up with was a video criticism of a Neocon version of the parable of the ant and the grasshopper which, whilst true, is not exactly interesting or relevant. So I'm moving up to the overarching theme of biodiversity, as Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-3677474090527663362008-10-06T17:48:00.004+01:002008-10-06T18:18:30.341+01:00Absolute geniusThis is The BossHoss. Really gimmicky, but genius nonetheless.If that's not enough, check out their versions of 'Hey Ya!', 'Toxic' and a number of other covers. Before there are any accusations of selling out (which might otherwise be justified) I should point out that they're German.Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-69665348081049994512008-09-28T11:22:00.008+01:002008-10-19T16:21:42.133+01:00Harpagoxenus sublaevisMy parents collected some ants from Austria in June. I was pleased to find that the first tube I looked in contained this little beast.Harpagoxenus sublaevis is interesting in that, despite its relatively small size, it is a 'slave-maker'. In this instance it was apparently using Leptothorax acervorum as slaves, though it also enslaves L. muscorum and L. gredleri.Describing ants as slave-makers Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-246461768076496602008-09-23T00:00:00.002+01:002008-09-28T10:28:15.742+01:0031 TodayThis seems appropriate today. I wonder why.Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-89360313939791325942008-09-16T18:03:00.003+01:002008-09-16T18:13:13.567+01:00That's one important ant!I don't normally just link to ant related news without having something to say myself. However, I think that Martialis heureka warrants making an exception.Myrmecos does a good summary of the story, with some nice photos. Other good coverage is at ScienceDaily, Nature News and Discover. The paper is available from PNAS, at a cost, though the abstract is available for free.Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-74351016978294611642008-09-07T12:24:00.019+01:002008-09-07T15:29:27.146+01:00Separating Lasius niger and Lasius platythorax workersBy popular request! Well, one person requested it anyway.Lasius niger and Lasius platythorax are undoubtedly hard to separate. This becomes particularly difficult when you find specimens that seem to be somewhere in between. However, it is always possible to assign them to one species or another, with a bit of work.First of all, L. niger and L. platythorax are small dark brown Lasius with Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-60304782865002413382008-09-07T12:04:00.007+01:002010-06-13T20:57:38.468+01:00New title barIt only took two hours of fiddling to get it right.For those who care, the species used for the mugshots are, from left to right:Pachycondyla sennaarensisTetraponera ambiguaCataulacus guineensisAn as yet undescribed species of MonomoriumTapinoma sp.Myrmica scabrinodisMyopias tenuisCataglyphis oasiumMayriella overbeckiMonomorium afrum queenTetramorium sericeiventreSifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0