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 [...]
Read Full Post »
A few of the many species described by Roy Snelling:
Myrmecocystus tenuinodis Snelling 1976
Stenamma dyscheres Snelling 1973
Neivamyrmex wilsoni Snelling & Snelling 2007
Read Full Post »
Areolate
In 1979, Rick Harris wrote a definitive paper illustrating the various terms used by taxonomists to describe the intricate patterns on the insect exoskeleton. His guide is tremendously helpful to those of us who struggle to decide if those ridges on the head of an ant are strigate or costate. Via Sifolinia, I [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Science, Taxonomy on April 17, 2008 | No Comments »
Christopher Taylor gives an update on imminent closure of the Utrecht Herbarium, as well as further explanation why this is very, very bad.
Read Full Post »
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 [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Ants, Insects, Science, Taxonomy, tagged ecology, entomology, invasive species, Linepithema, Nature, pests on April 13, 2008 | 5 Comments »
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 [...]
Read Full Post »
One of the most important collections of South American plants is being shut down. The Utrecht Herbarium in the Netherlands houses nearly 1 million specimens and 10,000 types. When the museum closes we will lose a wealth of knowledge about the flora of a diverse and endangered part of the world.
Read More [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Ants, Science, Taxonomy on March 29, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Last year I mentioned the antics of Mr. Dewanand Makhan, an amateur taxonomist whose enthusiasm for publication rather outstrips any penchant for quality control. This week a team of myrmecologists has stepped in to reverse some of Makhan’s errors:
All that [Makhan] has done is sample some of Suriname’s common species of Dacetini, and one [...]
Read Full Post »
Mycocepurus smithi, in the fungus garden
An exciting week for ant aficionados! A new study by ant phylogenetics gurus Ted Schultz and Seán Brady provides the first detailed picture of attine evolution. These New World ants have long attracted the attention of biologists because they, like our own species, practice a well-developed form of agriculture. [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Science, Taxonomy, beetles on March 11, 2008 | No Comments »
Coprophanaeus caroliae Edmonds 2008
Dung Beetle - Bolivia
Source: Edmonds, W.D. 2008. A new species of Coprophanaeus Olsoufieff (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from Bolivia. Zootaxa 1723: 42-46.
Read Full Post »
