The L.A. Times on Roy Snelling

Roy Snelling, 73; renowned entomologist was an expert on ants.

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New Species: Pheidole pegasus

Pheidole pegasus Sarnat 2008
Fiji
Eli Sarnat, the reigning expert on the Ants of Fiji, has just published a lovely taxonomic revision of a group of Pheidole that occur on the islands. Pheidole are found in warmer regions worldwide, but Fiji has seen a remarkable radiation of species that share a bizarre set of spines on [...]

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Invasive Ants on your Walls

If you’re having trouble filling that bare wall over your desk, the Bohart Museum of Entomology has just the thing: a new line of insect posters. The invasive ant poster above was designed by Fran Keller from auto-montage images by Eli Sarnat, Jasmine Joseph, and Anna Lam.

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Help redesign myrmecos.net

Myrmecos.net is 5 years old. It has grown from a few dozen photographs to about 4,000, and in recent years 1,500 people visit the site every day. In spite of the site’s high profile, myrmecos has not changed in any fundamental way since it first went online in 2003 (archived versions are [...]

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Roy Snelling’s species

A few of the many species described by Roy Snelling:

Myrmecocystus tenuinodis Snelling 1976

Stenamma dyscheres Snelling 1973

Neivamyrmex wilsoni Snelling & Snelling 2007

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In memory of Roy Snelling

Yesterday I received the sad news that Roy Snelling, one of the most significant figures in modern myrmecology, has passed on. He was on an expedition in Kenya and apparently suffered a heart attack in his sleep.
Roy’s prolific career as a curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County produced dozens of [...]

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An Odd Ant

Proceratium californicum
San Mateo Co., California
From Antweb:

This rarely collected ant is known from valley oak (Quercus lobata) riparian woodland in the Central Valley and from adjacent foothill localities (oak woodland; chaparral; grassland). It is presumed to be a specialist, subterranean predator on spider eggs. Alates have been collected in April and May.

photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm [...]

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Grooming or Aggression?

Forelius maccooki (small ants) & Pogonomyrmex desertorum
Tucson, Arizona
In last August’s National Geographic, photographer Mark Moffett has a controversial photo essay depicting a large, motionless harvester ant being worked over by smaller Dorymyrmex workers. Moffett’s interpretation of the behavior is this:
While observing seed-harvester ants on the desert flats west of Portal, Arizona, I noticed workers [...]

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New Trap-Jaw Ant Species: Daceton boltoni

Daceton boltoni Azorsa & Sosa-Calvo 2008
Iquitos, Peru
If I had to make a list of the most beautiful ants in the world, the honey-colored trap-jaw ant Daceton armigerum would be near the top. Daceton is an unmistakable insect: large, graceful, spiny, with bulging eyes and a heart-shaped head. They live in the canopy of [...]

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How to Identify the Argentine Ant, Linepithema humile

The Argentine Ant (Linepithema humile), a small brown ant about 2-3mm long, is one of the world’s most damaging insects. This pernicious ant is spreading to warmer regions around the world from its natal habitat along South America’s Paraná River. Linepithema humile can drive native arthropods to extinction, instigating changes that ripple through [...]

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