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WebMD Taxonomy Fail

March 17, 2010 by myrmecos

Not a fire ant.

But I’ll give ten Myrmecos (™) points to the first person who can identify what species it really is.

Posted in Ants, fun, Taxonomy | Tagged Ants, webmd | 12 Comments

12 Responses

on March 17, 2010 at 1:49 pm Rob U.

Camponotus floridanus
- on March 17, 2010 at 1:50 pm myrmecos
  
  Close, but floridanus is a bit hairier than this ant.
on March 17, 2010 at 1:52 pm Joshua King

Either Camponotus sayi or Camponotus decipiens. Lousy pic.
- on March 17, 2010 at 1:53 pm Joshua King
  
  Oh, and GIANT fail.
- on March 17, 2010 at 2:05 pm myrmecos
  
  Bingo! Ten points for you.
  
  It isn’t clear from the picture to say for certain which of those two it is. I *think* it’s sayi, but decipiens would also fit.
on March 17, 2010 at 2:02 pm Sifolinia

I’m well outside my geographic area of expertise here, but Camponotus discolor?
- on March 17, 2010 at 2:03 pm myrmecos
  
  Very close, but discolor is also hairier than this ant.
on March 17, 2010 at 2:34 pm James C. Trager

I like C. decipiens for this ant, becasue of its rather chinky head. The major of C. sayi has a somewhat less robust head. C. snellingi is out because of the lack or red or yellow on the gaster.
- on March 17, 2010 at 2:51 pm myrmecos
  
  Thanks James. I figured you’d have the most insightful comment of anyone.
  - on March 17, 2010 at 5:36 pm jtrager
    
    It would have been even better if i could type. I meant chunky, as in thick-headed. But, yeah…
on March 18, 2010 at 10:01 pm Subverted

Honestly…the biggest fails on that slideshow from my perspective(a primarily arachnid related one) are:

1) Latrodectus – not a bug…and certainly not poisonous.
2) Since when do Latrodectus have the ability to produce two fang marks that far apart! O_O I would love to see one capable of that…
3) Loxoscelese bite – are we sure that isnt a necrotic infection?
4) Scorpions in the USA… deadly AND poisonous. Who knew?! >_< (The only scorpion in the US that really has even a chance of causing death w/o an allergic reaction is the AZ bark, Centruroides sp., and even then only in small children/the elderly.)

Ugh… maybe I should get out more…
on March 19, 2010 at 3:32 pm Genius of the press, vIII « The Skeptical Moth

[…] entomology blogger Myrmecos had a similar story last […]

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