The L.A. Times on Roy Snelling

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

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E. O. Wilson on NOVA

I’ve just received the following notice about an upcoming NOVA show on the life of biologist/myrmecologist E. O. Wilson:

NOVA is excited to partner with organizations that share our passion for scientific discovery as we spread the word about upcoming shows. On Tuesday, May 20, we invite you to join us for a look at the [...]

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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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Happy Mother’s Day!

Rose Aphids - Macrosiphum rosae
Tucson, Arizona
It’s fair to say that without the encouragement of my mother, who allowed all manner of newts, snakes, caterpillars, tadpoles and ants into the house, I would not have gone on to become a biologist.
Thanks Mom, and happy mother’s day!
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon [...]

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Friday Beetle Blogging: Amphizoa trout-stream beetle

Amphizoa insolens - trout stream beetle
California
Amphizoa are among the more enigmatic insects I’ve photographed. These dime-sized beetles are found only in the mountains of China and western North America, a disjunct distribution paralleled by a number of interesting taxa, including the giant redwoods. All six species are predaceous and aquatic, living in debris and [...]

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Birth of an Aphid

Macrosiphum rosae - Rose aphids
Arizona

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Friday Beetle Blogging: A Male Glow-worm

Distremocephalus - Phengodidae
Arizona
The beetle family Phengodidae is odd any way you look at it. The adult female (not pictured) is larviform, which means she never loses her grub-like appearance as she grows into sexual maturity. She has no wings and no long antennae. But she does bioluminesce, and that gives the family their [...]

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New Species: Crypticerya bursera

Crypticerya bursera Unruh 2008
Baja California
Cory Unruh describes a new species of scale insect in the genus Crypticerya in this week’s Zootaxa. The diagram above shows a highly stylized version of the back (at left) and underbelly (at right) of the insect, with peripheral illustrations of the various pores, appendages and hairs. Scale insects [...]

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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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