Friday Beetle Blogging: Zygogramma Leaf Beetles

Leaf beetles such as these brightly marked Zygogramma constitute one of the largest evolutionary radiations- the Chrysomelidae- among all animals.  This family of beetles owes its tremendous diversity to an herbivorous association with flowering plants. photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/13, indirect strobe [...]

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Some Covers

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Which ants should we target for genome sequencing?

This weekend, Arizona State University is hosting a slate of myrmecologists to brainstorm on ant genomes.  I’d link to the meeting information, but apparently the gathering is so informal that they’ve not given the event a web page.  In any case, the topic is this:  in the age of (relatively) cheap genomes, which ants should [...]

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Ant pamphlets?

From the Small Science Collective comes a little zine about ants: The idea, I guess, is that printable pamphlets are ideal for scattering about in public places.  Or as handouts during door-to-door myrmeco-evangelism.

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Cheating ants smell funny….

Here’s a new study in Current Biology from Adrian Smith, Bert Hoelldobler, and Juergen Liebig: Abstract: Cheaters are a threat to every society and therefore societies have established rules to punish these individuals in order to stabilize their social system [1–3]. Recent models and observations suggest that enforcement of reproductive altruism (policing) in hymenopteran insect [...]

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Sunday Night Movie: End of Earth

Apparently, the world ends in a stream of Japanese narration.

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Update on the Lost Lady Bug Project

A few months ago I mentioned the Lost Lady Bug Project. It seems they’ve updated the site so that visitors can now view all the photo submissions.  Pretty cool.

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Friday Beetle Blogging: Spider Beetle

Spider beetles are not predators like their namesakes but are instead pests of stored grain.  I was surprised at how difficult they were to photograph.  Their round bodies were hard to fit into a single focal plane, while their reflective elytra were prone to harsh glare.  I could not do much about the first problem, [...]

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Fuzzy!

photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/13, twin flash diffused through tracing paper

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Doctoral student position open

Birgit Schlick-Steiner, of the University of Innsbruck in Austria, has funding for a Ph.D. student to work on the molecular ecology of the Tetramorium caespitum complex.  This research group has produced some top-notch science in recent years, and if you are looking to become a professional myrmecologist this is an excellent opportunity.  You’d receive training [...]

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