tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25982925833465028592012-01-30T19:35:27.100ZMostly myrmecological musingsSifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.comBlogger861100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-91765712321174211002010-06-13T14:05:00.004+01:002010-06-13T14:39:32.780+01:00

Last 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.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-52588136321427959442009-11-23T13:44:00.004Z2009-11-23T14:01:16.682Z

Thanks 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.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-88842478017697716312009-10-15T00:01:00.002+01:002009-10-15T17:49:13.994+01:00

Those 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+01:00

Did 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+01:00

According 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+01:00

I 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&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Tapinoma&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp erraticumFormicinae&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Camponotus&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp 

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+01:00

My 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+01:00

I 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.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-83505919175802926432009-03-04T17:18:00.012Z2009-03-04T23:04:01.392Z

Way 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-47509156964768866092009-01-04T16:42:00.018Z2009-08-02T17:27:05.242+01:00

Apologies 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-34906750951123064392008-11-08T21:37:00.006Z2008-11-08T23:44:00.501Z

I 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+01:00

Though 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+01:00

The 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+01:00

This 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+01:00

This 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+01:00

My 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.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-246461768076496602008-09-23T00:00:00.002+01:002008-09-28T10:28:15.742+01:00

This 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+01:00

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+01:00

By 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.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-60304782865002413382008-09-07T12:04:00.007+01:002010-06-13T20:57:38.468+01:00

It 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 sericeiventre

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-36088213370781289812008-09-06T12:38:00.007+01:002008-09-06T13:54:07.901+01:00

I wish I had the kind of technology that the guys at AntWeb have for taking photographs. They use Automontage to focus stack the images, ensuring that everything is in focus. The principle of focus stacking is that you take photographs with different parts of the subject in focus and then use the software to combine the in-focus bits of all the images to create a new image.The big issue for me is

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-88438144577659634462008-08-31T17:36:00.004+01:002008-08-31T18:03:08.474+01:00

One of the few things that the UK seems to do really well is waxcaps (Hygrocybe sp.). They are one of the more spectacular groups of fungi, coming in a range of very vivid colours. In Europe they are associated with grasslands, though elsewhere in the world they tend to occur in woodlands.The first time I encountered Hygrocybe intermedia was in 2000, on the sand dunes just a few metres from

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-81416919724342810422008-08-27T23:09:00.012+01:002008-08-27T23:44:24.100+01:00

I visited Leighton Moss RSPB reserve on Saturday.It wouldn't be surprising if over 99% of visitors go to Leighton Moss for birds, with the remainder going for dragonflies, but I'm afraid I tend to find this sort of birding boring. On the whole, I'd much rather have the birds up close and personal, even if it is just European starlings on a bird feeder. The one exception to the general reserve

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-31178694287335423902008-08-26T23:38:00.004+01:002008-08-27T23:08:55.598+01:00

A colleague of mine forwarded this to me last week, but I went away and haven't had chance to deal with it properly until now.Researchers at Texas A&M University used Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to map a colony of Atta texana, producing a 3D model of the tunnels and chambers. It's all very clever and has the advantage of being non-invasive.I've seen some of the models that Walter Tschinkel has

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-39627334147380181592008-07-29T22:43:00.002+01:002008-07-29T22:48:27.962+01:00

Most days I have inane songs stuck in my head. However, for most of today it has been 'F.U.N.E.X?' that has been haunting my thoughts.

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-69304231980232008032008-07-21T20:09:00.009+01:002008-07-22T13:20:38.820+01:00

Seven weeks ago (to the day) I found a Lasius queen in a soil claustral cell beneath some moss in a woodland.I don't make a habit of collecting Lasius queens to rear colonies from - they are two-a-penny in the UK (only slightly more expensive than a-dime-a-dozen at todays exchange rate) and the workers are marvellous escapologists, making them difficult to keep.However, this queen looked like a

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-4897882507318412222008-07-12T21:43:00.003+01:002008-07-12T22:00:38.580+01:00

I honestly can't remember the last time a new species of invertebrate was found in the UK (excluding bacteria from the definition). That makes it quite an event when something as significant as a slug is found, sort of the British equivalent of the Vu Quang ox.The slug was described by specialists at the National Museum of Wales and Cardiff University, who named it Selenochlamys ysbryda, after

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-2280107120378699162008-07-12T16:12:00.007+01:002008-07-13T11:30:15.415+01:00

It's been too long since I last added anything to this blog, so it is a shame that I write this in the middle of fixing a(nother) mistake. I originally thought this specimen was Temnothorax nylanderi, collected well outside of its known range, and had started to pursue this, involving other people.Instead it is Temnothorax saxonicus and I'm feeling quite sheepish. What's especially silly is that

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-25495220582899126442008-06-22T20:14:00.007+01:002008-06-22T20:35:16.311+01:00

Always on the look out for something really weird, in 2006 I found this grotesque thing. The general impression is of a set of giant rotting teeth.It didn't take much tracking down. Many fungi are host specific, so if you can tell what the fungus is growing on you stand a chance of identifying it. This rises to a good chance when the fungus is as distinctive as this. In this case the host was

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-80578738307519696802008-06-21T22:54:00.008+01:002010-01-30T12:49:38.674Z

Put simply, morphometrics is 'measuring shapes'. In the normal, biological context this refers to the shape of study organisms. It is used by the taxonomist as a way of determining species boundaries.Not long after I first encountered morphometrics I found myself working on tricky Lasius sp., which meant that I had to try to make sense of Seifert (1992). Seifert seems to be the Master of

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-43948406200786799842008-06-14T18:00:00.033+01:002008-09-14T12:57:37.264+01:00

Another place visited; another list of ants collected. This time the area covered is a small part of Bavaria, as a result of a visit to the University of Regensburg. This list will develop over the next few weeks, as I have numerous specimens to look at. Once I have identified everthing I will send a full list of the records to the university and to any other interested parties.It is possible to

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-16134423416163686282008-06-13T22:50:00.012+01:002008-06-13T23:45:13.250+01:00

Fairly regularly something comes along and completely stumps me, but it doesn't normally happen with European ants.I thought I knew Myrmica well, especially M. scabrinodis, which is one of the species I most regularly encounter. This Bavarian specimen really has caused me to do a disproportionate amount of work to resolve it's identity.First of all I wasn't even 100% certain that it was a Myrmica

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-9933135339047611072008-06-12T14:49:00.002+01:002008-06-12T14:56:51.804+01:00

In the 1950s and 60s Dr. Peter Witt made a number of studies on the effects of various drugs on orb-web spiders, particularly the visible effects that the drugs had on their webs.I found out about this research when I was at college, but for a long time assumed that it was just an urban myth. However, there is now the following video, which explains what actually happened:

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-55977737392624767052008-06-10T21:27:00.014+01:002008-06-13T23:41:12.248+01:00

The British summer has finally arrived, which means my flat is hot. Really hot. Too hot to look down a microscope without everything steaming up. As a result all ant work has had to cease until it cools down1.I thought that in the meantime I might present some photographs of other things. I have an online gallery that I kept running for about 3 years and then neglected, so I'm letting the

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-51395501309766097562008-06-02T21:23:00.007+01:002008-06-02T21:58:25.659+01:00

This is a new one for me - like a lot of people I didn't even know such things existed.Last month I was surveying a site in Surrey, just outside of Greater London, and had found a nice south facing slope with a thermophilic invertebrate community present. This included mining bees Andrena sp., plus the cleptoparasitic nomad bees Nomada sp. and bee-flies Bombylius sp., and the wasp Dolichovespula

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-29799439761480531442008-05-18T14:11:00.008+01:002008-05-28T19:25:56.976+01:00

I've been pretty quiet recently as I've been very busy organising my first overseas anting trip of 2008. About a month ago, the University of Regensburg, Germany, invited me to visit them. Part of the trip will involve a seminar, so I've been trying to write the seminar, arrange travel, etc. and re-learn the little German I knew 15 years ago. This and my full-time job have left little time for

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-86899237322426767842008-04-27T10:53:00.005+01:002008-04-27T17:11:16.279+01:00

It is with sadness that I report the death of Roy Snelling. Roy was one of the great figures in the study of Hymenoptera. He died in his sleep at the start of an expedition in Kenya.I only had a small amount of contact with Roy, so I won't say too much. I met him on the Ant Course in Cairns, 2006 and had some email contact with him afterwards. He was a brilliant man with a wicked sense of humour,

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-67487703195420673872008-04-25T18:19:00.003+01:002008-04-25T18:24:37.453+01:00

It must be my inner child. This video had me in tears.I'm just not sure whether this counts as cruelty - my belly aches in sympathy.

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-72526181213718594922008-04-24T21:34:00.022+01:002009-08-17T21:37:26.127+01:00

The last of the boring but possibly useful lists.This covers those counties where I only have a few species recorded or in my collection. Those from Ireland and Senegal were collected by me. My parents have been good enough to collect ants for me, including from Mallorca and Austria. Specimens collected by David M. King were passed to me for identification; these came from Italy, Kuwait,

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-74735349757666578952008-04-22T20:58:00.012+01:002008-09-14T09:44:53.573+01:00

This is the most incomplete of the lists I'm going to present. There are two main reasons for this: the taxonomy of the Australian ant fauna is incredibly difficult, making identification hard, and I was interrupted by my work on the Gambian fauna. Eventually I will get back to these collections.They are the result of my attendance on the Ant Course 2006, plus an extra week that I stayed. This

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-41062895281473526672008-04-21T20:23:00.004+01:002008-05-16T19:24:25.304+01:00

This list of ants in my collection was the result of a two week 'holiday' in the Dordogne and Massif Central areas of France. It was the first time I had ever collected ants outside of the UK and forecast the end of 'normal' holidays for me!More information on the ants of France can be found at Fourmis, the French ant forum.Dolichoderinae&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Dolichoderus&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-53532667813278996872008-04-20T21:52:00.007+01:002008-05-16T19:24:42.016+01:00

The other day I had a request from Professor James K. Wetterer at Florida Atlantic University. He had seen the invasive species listed as present in The Gambia and wanted further details of those and others that I had collected.This lead to two surprises. The first was that someone was paying attention and cared what I get up to. The second was the large number of invasive ants I have collected,

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-3419519962907550352008-04-19T16:04:00.004+01:002008-04-19T16:08:38.231+01:00

Whoa! Just browsing the other ant blogs and newsgroups and discovered that this blog is now linked from Myrmecos Blog!

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-69708057111713512332008-04-19T14:57:00.007+01:002008-04-20T15:39:41.766+01:00

It was two months ago that I posted this image claiming it to be Tapinoma ambiguum. I was wrong - but that is nothing new!Shortly after posting it I took the specimen to Cedric Collingwood, who glanced at it under a microscope and said 'Ah, it's festae!' Since then I've been planning to update this blog with a proper correction, but I wanted to be sure that I know why it is this species.Why did

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-40785390278309491252008-04-18T18:15:00.004+01:002008-04-18T18:27:18.313+01:00

The picture below was posted on the BWARS forum. This has to be the best bee hotel I've seen. If only I had a garden where I could build one of my own.

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-57134102031447923542008-04-12T12:50:00.007+01:002008-04-13T21:11:51.002+01:00

I previously thought I had collected Monomorium dictator in the Gambia, as that is what this specimen keyed out as. However, I've been doing a lot of work on the salomonis-group recently and I no longer think that I was correct. I now think it is Monomorium dakarense.It all boils down to couplet 36 of Bolton's (1987) key. I think it would be possible to debate for hours over whether the sculpture

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-6783515244416586112008-04-06T22:34:00.006+01:002008-04-06T23:21:32.173+01:00

I've updated the links list. Highlights include 'Formicary' and 'SuperOrganism'.Formicary is 'an aggregator for ant and other hymenopteran blogs', which basically means that it collects new additions to English ant blogs. At the moment, I do much the same using NewsFox, but this should pick up on things that I would otherwise miss. Currently it's at a temporary location, but I think it's a great

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-28822407013503062952008-04-01T17:45:00.003+01:002008-04-01T18:02:57.004+01:00

Word is spreading of a newly discovered invasive ant species that looks set to cause havoc worldwide, reports the Applied Journal of Cryptozoology. The recently named Nulverum electrophilum has been found in Wotton-under-Edge, UK, where it appears to be attracted to electrical fields. In such situations it has been known to invade electrical systems, causing extensive damage by chewing wiring and

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-1248949445983168942008-03-25T19:56:00.006Z2008-03-25T20:42:46.303Z

When I first attempted to identify this ant I decided that it was Monomorium exiguum, though I wasn't exactly convinced. I was using Bolton (1987), though I find the key fairly vague at times, which isn't helped by the fact that the descriptions aren't exactly consistent and many species lack diagrams.M. exiguum is the last species in the key - okay, so there aren't that many Afrotropical

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-68617894015214425782008-03-25T13:06:00.008Z2008-11-14T20:35:05.895Z

I originally identified this as Camponotus cosmicus and wrote a nice long blog defending my decision to call it that. I even provisionally synonomised it with a few other species and subspecies. I was wrong!At the time, I sent photographs to Brian Taylor, who replied, 'Why do you not think this is Camponotus vestitus?' Perhaps I should have recognised that his far greater experience was likely to

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-54637896191490258072008-03-25T10:53:00.003Z2008-03-26T16:20:04.274Z

Before I disappeared for Easter I visited the London Natural History Museum to compare my some of my Gambian specimens with ant specimens in their collection. As a result, I have a few changes to make, but need to do a bit more work before I make them. Until I change the posts, this will hopefully caution against relying on previous posts.I had misidentified the following species:Camponotus

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-69538096698978051702008-03-10T17:58:00.009Z2008-03-10T18:57:37.761Z

Here's a really neat idea: everybody, everywhere in the world switches their lights off for a particular hour on a particular day. It seems a bit like the more productive and less-potentially-damaging version of everyone in China jumping all at once (which I've always thought would be fun to try just once).So, at 8pm on the 29 March 2008 (hopefully) millions of people around the world will switch

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-81213583445756040582008-03-09T12:00:00.006Z2008-03-09T12:31:59.507Z

In a few months I'm going to let my online gallery close, so I'm taking the opportunity to post some of the more unusual photographs here.This is Cordyceps gracilis. Cordyceps fungi are parasitic on insects, some of which are quite extraordinary looking.The common species of Cordyceps within the UK is C. militaris, which can occasionally be found growing out of buried Lepidoptera.C. gracilis is

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-49563072149738805562008-03-08T13:40:00.006Z2008-03-09T19:32:27.264Z

I found this rove beetle under a stone in the middle of a Lasius flavus colony. As a potential myrmecophile it was pretty convincing, as it was in a chamber right in the middle of the colony, though at a distance from the ants. I collected it with a few L. flavus and kept it alive with them for a few days before deciding to work out what it is.I originally thought it might be Lamprinodes

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-30384190264923431952008-02-19T14:47:00.003Z2008-02-22T16:01:32.087Z

Thanks to Dave General for pointing me in the direction of the Ants of the Philippines website, which I wasn't aware of. This is despite me thinking of visiting the country to collect ants and at the same time visiting a (non-myrmecologist) Filipino friend.Ah well, I can't know everything, and experiences teaches me that I know very little.This has also led to the discovery that I'm listed on a

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-34704521299131537162008-02-15T22:59:00.003Z2008-02-15T23:04:39.744Z

Okay, so probably everyone's seen this now and I've arrived late at the party, but it reduces me to tears every time I watch it.It seems like more evidence that panda conservation is a waste of money - they're obviously not fit for survival!

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-24622820152014082312008-02-13T22:44:00.004Z2008-04-19T15:41:49.750+01:00

Update 19th April 2008: This specimen was not correctly identified, as it is actually T. simrothi subsp. festae. However, the images on AntWeb are still incorrectly labelled as T. ambiguum, so perhaps I shouldn't feel too bad!I've been fairly quiet recently because I've been busy trying to identify ant specimens, rather than writing about them. However, this one deserves a special mention.Back in

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-30888734661106139132008-02-01T14:33:00.000Z2008-02-01T21:56:06.094Z

Camponotus flavomarginatus is the only member of the subgenus Myrmosericus collected in The Gambia that provided no great difficulty to identify. It is distinguished by the smoothly rounded propodeum and the arrangement of the dense pubescence on the gaster, which is laid more or less straight back, rather than distinctly converging at the midline (compare with C. rufoglaucus subsp. controversus

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-72570673670368462082008-01-31T13:50:00.001Z2008-03-25T17:30:20.737Z

Camponotus rufoglaucus subsp. controversus is the second of the three species of Myrmosericus found in The Gambia. This is another ant that was by no means easy to identify.It is clearly C. rufoglaucus because of the arrangement of the pubescence on the gaster, the smoothly rounded propodeum and the very compressed tibia (visible in the bottom picture). However, C. rufoglaucus sens. str. is an

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-18158306286536747352008-01-26T17:59:00.001Z2008-11-14T20:27:14.912Z

Camponotus olivieri is a widespread species in Africa, ranging from South Africa north to Sudan and west to Ghana. However, it is made up of a great many subspecies that probably deserve species status, so the situation may be rather more complicated than it seems at first.Two subspecies of C. olivieri were collected in The Gambia: lemma and delagoensis. They differ quite markedly in pubescence

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-30735924663289618652008-01-20T21:14:00.001Z2008-01-28T08:18:19.682Z

In my last post I mentioned photographs of a queen ant that were posted to the BWARS discussion group. I asked the collector to send the specimen so that it could be identified properly and I've now had the opportunity to look at it.It is a Lasius umbratus queen, which was correctly guessed by Andrew Jarman (my guess wasn't even in the right genus). The L. umbratus group is difficult, so I worked

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-4045552349076949572008-01-02T13:16:00.000Z2008-01-13T18:25:27.129Z

The latter few months of 2007 seemed bring encounters with an unusual number of freak ant specimens, unfortunately none of which were collected by me.First, an ant with a third eye, a Myrmica as I recall, was brought to the BWARS workshops in September. At least, it appeared to be like a third eye. It was a black area that was partially buried in the cuticle of the head, but where it came to the

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-55596736046159333042007-12-11T23:28:00.000Z2007-12-15T16:48:00.823Z

Plagiolepis mediorufa had only been recorded from the Congo and the Central African Republic, generally from myrmecophilous plants. My Gambian specimens were collected from plants, trees and a palm frond in Bijilo Forest Park, Kololi and Abuko National Park, Lamin, but nothing about the plants indicated that they were adapted to supporting ants. The Gambia also represents a significant range

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-60484598327120961562007-12-10T20:07:00.000Z2007-12-10T20:33:18.170Z

Monomorium bicolor is an abundant ant in The Gambia. It had been collected there before in around 1926 in Banjul (formerly Bathurst), and in 2007 in Kololi and on Jinack Island. It is distributed from Angola north to Sudan and from Somalia across to Senegal.M. bicolor seems to be present in a variety of habitats, as it was found on trees, on the ground in open areas, on buildings and once

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-2216771671613570572007-12-09T15:33:00.000Z2007-12-10T20:06:40.201Z

It's quite sad really. The queen of my Leptothorax acervorum colony has died. She was rather unceremoniously dumped at the far end of the foraging arena by the workers. It is possible that they have another queen. I can't check, as I cut the colony out in a piece of turf and, because they have been doing so well in there, left them alone.I collected the colony earlier this year at Chevin Forest

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-12747166038501095652007-12-09T15:07:00.001Z2008-03-20T12:45:32.727Z

Monomorium osiridis had only been collected twice, in Kenya, before I picked up these specimens in The Gambia. It seems quite surprising to find M. osiridis on the other side of the continent, but I don't know what else these specimens could be.M. osiridis and the southern African species Monomorium zulu and Monomorium rabirium are separated from other Monomorium by having 12-segmented antennae,

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-57808817790268998012007-12-03T19:13:00.001Z2008-03-20T12:44:06.349Z

Monomorium rosae is a widely distributed species with a central African distribution that stretches from Kenya to Senegal. It was collected twice on Jinack Island in The Gambia, once on a tree and once in dry leaf litter at the base of a tree.Bolton (1987) notes that this species varies in size and pilosity over its range, suggesting that M. rosae may contain more than one species. He

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-75047915390587073642007-12-02T13:52:00.002Z2008-04-19T16:49:44.896+01:00

The size of an ant and how easy it is to identify are not necessarily related. Whilst Monomorium mictile, at just over 1 mm, was relatively easy to identify, I'd been pondering this very large species of Cataglyphis for weeks.Cataglyphis is a genus that is taxonomically muddled. I've finally concluded that this species is probably Cataglyphis oasium. It was the keys in Santschi (1929) and

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-43070827307916447502007-11-25T16:13:00.002Z2008-04-12T13:50:32.065+01:00

Monomorium mictile has to be the smallest ant I have ever found. It is very inconspicuous.I started off with four specimens, but misplaced two before I could look at them properly (I still don't know how). I selected one of the two specimens to be mounted and, whilst I was getting everything ready, I brushed a bit of dust off my microscope stage. I knew what I had done as soon as I had done it -

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-38640810180451266622007-11-25T13:49:00.001Z2008-03-20T12:40:36.647Z

Monomorium exiguum has been found across central and southern Africa, from Ethiopia in the east to Guinea in the west and Zimbabwe in the south. It appears to be primarily a forest species, so it is no surprise that the Gambian specimens were collected from a tree in Abuko National Park, one of the few remaining patches of gallery forest.Bolton (1987) states that M. exiguum as defined

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-3617367761726199262007-11-21T11:33:00.002Z2008-03-20T12:48:18.117Z

Yet another rediscovery. It gets too familiar after a while, but it does demonstrate how little is known about the ants of Africa.Monomorium vonatu was known only from a single holotype specimen in the Natural History Museum, London. It was collected in 1970 in Ghana and described by Bolton (1987). It is easily distinguished from other species of Monomorium by the shape of the petiole and

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-32116833909601587812007-11-19T22:34:00.001Z2008-03-20T12:57:43.622Z

This specimen has proved difficult to identify, but I'm now pretty certain that I've got it right. It keys out pretty clearly as Monomorium egens using Bolton (1987), but is generally much more slender than the species that Bolton describes and has much longer scapes (SI 108).Because it doesn't fit perfectly I've been puzzling over it for the past couple days. The resolution came when I

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-59000744050182037652007-11-17T20:06:00.000Z2007-12-10T23:17:45.410Z

Monomorium afrum is the largest species in its genus found in the Gambia so far. It is very widespread in Africa, being from from South Africa to Sudan. The closest it has been found to The Gambia is the Ivory Coast, so this find represents an extension of its known range westwards.It was found only once as a worker, running on the ground in the coastal resort of Kololi. Other species of

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-64522728236492717982007-11-14T19:07:00.000Z2007-11-15T13:40:58.940Z

When the development of the Eden Project first started in Cornwall I made a prediction: that their biomes would become overrun with ants. This wasn't completely without precedent, as the this is exactly what had happened with Biosphere 2 with the crazy ant Paratrechina longicornis.I'm rarely this accurate, so I'm feeling quite smug!My first encounter with ants from the Eden Project was having a

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-14012390347718911522007-11-06T13:24:00.000Z2007-11-06T13:40:59.006Z

It happens rarely. Every so often something happens that provides a glimmer of optimism for the conservation ecologist. This is probably one of those events.I spotted the story a few days ago on the BBC News pages, but typically it took me a while to react. Apparently a team of researchers from the University of Otago have discovered a possible cure to chytridiomycosis in frogs. Frogs have been

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-7762052235842342652007-11-05T20:32:00.000Z2007-11-05T21:19:08.642Z

Pachycondyla sennaarensis is probably one of the most common ant species in the coastal region of The Gambia, as I collected it 10 times. I also got to know it over the week that I was there and had soon started to ignore the many lone workers that I frequently saw.Remarkably, given how common it is in the area that other myrmecologists were most likely to visit, it hadn't been recorded from The

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-42994881047331984382007-11-03T21:25:00.000Z2007-11-03T21:44:11.079Z

Nesomyrmex angulatus is another widespread species, found from South Africa to Saudi Arabia. The closest it has previously been found to The Gambia is Ghana, so this represents another western range extension (along with Cataulacus traegaordhi). The key thing about this species that separates it from other Nesomyrmex is the very smooth profile of the mesosoma, coupled with the yellow

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-26687115168958967322007-11-03T16:23:00.000Z2007-11-03T16:54:04.525Z

Tetramorium sericeiventre is a very widespread species, occurring from South Africa north to Mali. A single worker had been collected in The Gambia in 1926, recorded as subsp. arenarium.This species is not as common as some ants in The Gambia, but can be found in Kololi and on Jinack Island, where it can be quite conspicuous. It was collected from savannah, where it nested in the ground.I was

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-71032959483068761472007-11-03T12:33:00.000Z2007-11-03T13:34:55.419Z

Earlier this week I was in Dover, Kent and encountered my first harlequin ladybirds, Harmonia axyridis.The surprising thing was that I hadn't already seen any. Since it first appeared in the UK in 2004 the species has spread at an incredible rate, and is now known from much of England and parts of Wales.Because they are an invasive species that threaten the ladybirds native to the UK I collected

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-73710989321978035672007-10-27T11:11:00.000+01:002007-10-27T21:52:10.916+01:00

This is the second Cataulacus collected from Abuko National Park in The Gambia (the other one was C. guineensis). I only managed to find one specimen of C. traegaordhi, so either it's less conspicuous, rarer or I just wasn't looking in the right places.It has been found from South Africa north to Sudan, but apparently the closest it has been found to The Gambia is Ghana. Whilst finding C.

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-9219463753607323522007-10-25T22:53:00.000+01:002007-10-27T11:29:56.278+01:00

At the risk of unintentionally starting a theme that could potentially be very restricting and uninteresting, I think I'm going to continue to post 'ant portraits'. Someone might actually find them useful.This one is Cataulacus guineensis. It was collected Abuko National Park, one of the more famous protected areas in The Gambia. Abuko is a remnant of gallery forest, rather than rainforest.

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-9822183960367856812007-10-22T20:37:00.007+01:002008-12-23T16:30:56.800Z

My long-running, rather ambitious, spare-time project at the moment is to produce a synopsis of the ants of The Gambia, as very little is known about its ant fauna. This started off from collections made by myself in 2007, from which I still have a lot of unidentified Pheidole minors, but it seems unlikely that I will be able to identify these accurately. All parts of this list are open to change

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-25267500198098343812007-10-21T12:43:00.001+01:002007-10-21T18:04:15.408+01:00

My Tetraponera ambigua specimens have been the subject of some friendly debate, as Brian Taylor and I have been discussing them. I noted before that they have three ocelli, albeit reduced ones, but they have particularly wide postpetioles as well.I've now conducted a very detailed investigation, including comparing the morphometrics of my specimens with Ward's (2006) measurements, and am

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-32812459599102823542007-10-20T20:07:00.000+01:002007-10-22T09:22:05.679+01:00

On Thursday I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit Hilbre Island in the Dee Estuary and saw hundreds of plants of the rock sea-lavender Limonium britannicum subsp. celticum. This would be the third rarest plant I've ever seen, but there's a problem.L. britannicum subsp. celticum is listed in Stace (1997) as endemic to the coast from Anglesey to Westmorland. Because of this it has

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-27645937987313451112007-10-15T22:10:00.000+01:002007-10-22T20:37:18.923+01:00

Since today is blog action day I've been racking my brain trying to think of something to write. To be honest, I've found myself thinking that I should have waited a couple days before creating this blog.Why so hard? I guess it's too difficult to summarise the problem. Plus, as an ecologist, it would be nice to think I had an answer, but I don't.What I've decided to do is focus on what I think

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598292583346502859.post-41499999337569052712007-10-14T12:03:00.001+01:002007-10-22T21:26:45.047+01:00

I've decided to start a blog. I'm not entirely sure why.I've decided that this is going to be mostly about ants, as these are what I spend most of my spare time studying. Mostly this is taxonomy, but I hope as things progress it will move into other subject areas as well. There will probably be the occasional general ecology posting as well, as that's what I do for a living.To start the ball

Sifoliniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048875053273319777noreply@blogger.com0