KimberleyThere’s an ant party going on in some old dead leaves on my alchemilla mollis plant
Plazi Species#NewSpecies!
New ant from #vietnam just came in:
Carebara eguchii
Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C4035C20-33FD-51E7-9A79-31D2FBFA863D
Publication: https://doi.org/10.3897/dez.72.171173
#DeutscheEntomologischeZeitschrift #CarebaraEguchii
#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #fanua #invertebrates #entomology #insects #hymenoptera #myrmecology #ants
myrmepropagandistSo a few months back I found a study that tried to do the "mirror test for consciousness" on ants. I remember not being very impressed with the journal where it was published, though I found the topic fascinating.
Anton Petrov has now mentioned this study in one of his videos, which means it's going to spread more.
So... how do the ant people feel about this?
Gum on China’s ShoeWith the dry heat over the weekend, we must have had some local ant colonies swarming, resulting in a multitude of lost alates stuck on the ceiling of our indoor stairwell. They've been there for days, and I finally got the chance to catch some to see if I can raise them through to a new captive colony. It appears to be a perilous process - something always seems to go wrong.
These ladies will now go into a dark drawer for the next few months to see what happens.
#NewSpecies!
New ant from #vietnam just nipped us:
Carebara bifida
Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/CBDF3CBD-FEC9-596E-8816-57681A35A3C5
Publication: https://doi.org/10.3897/dez.72.171173
#DeutscheEntomologischeZeitschrift #CarebaraBifida
#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #invertebrates #entomology #insects #hymenoptera #formicidae #myrmecology #ants
budak
yur daily dendrophilic fly
#Singapore #insect #nature #macro #bug #entomology #biodiversity #myrmecology #animal #wildlife #dragonfly
apherd
#Singapore #insect #nature #macro #bug #entomology #biodiversity #myrmecology #animal #wildlife
Dave MuthWhoa. New science. These ant queens produce babies of two different species.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09425-w
#Biology #Myrmecology #Ants ComeOnNow! #Insects #Genetics #Science Geez!
SalamanderBetter Safe Than Sorry: Leg Amputations as a Prophylactic Wound Care Behaviour in Carpenter Ants
Better Safe Than Sorry: Leg Amputations as a Prophylactic Wound Care Behaviour in Carpenter Ants - Mander
>Abstract > > Animals often sustain injuries, which are susceptible to lethal infections. In social insects, wound care behaviours have evolved to reduce these risks. But the limits of wound care behaviours remain unclear. Here we investigated the wound care behaviours of the ant Camponotus maculatus. Our findings show that amputation of legs infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa significantly reduced mortality. However, nestmates do not differentiate between infected and sterile injuries, providing similar treatments regardless of infection. Even though we show that early amputation correlates with higher survival rates, nestmates amputate indiscriminately on legs with fresh or old wounds. Additionally, cuticular hydrocarbon profiles differed between ants with infected or sterile wounds only 24 hours post-injury, a timepoint when amputations are no longer effective. We propose that C. maculatus workers perform prophylactic amputations regardless of injury state or age. This is in sharp contrast to previous studies which showed clear capabilities to treat infected wounds differently in ants using antimicrobial compounds. This work therefore shows the limits of wound care behaviours in social insects, allowing us to better understand the evolutionary drivers of this unique behaviour.