Well, despite my best efforts, I have once again been unable to post more regularly due to tests, quizzes, and ants. As is proper, the ants have consumed most of my time, so I will explain here what it is that I have been doing with these little critters.
I am working with Dr. Evan Economo, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. Broadly speaking, we have been researching the biodiversity of Pacific island ants. Last year I devoted most of my time to Fiji, but this year I have focused almost exclusively on the Solomon Islands. My part in the research largely pertains to taxonomy – that is, I’ve spent many, many, many hours identifying many, many, many ants. Some examples from AntWeb are below:
This is a major of Pheidole sexspinosa. Pheidole majors have comically large heads, particularly when compared to their respective minors:
Odontomachus simillimus is a different kind of comical, with a unique adaptation:
I think Eurhopalothrix procera looks really cool – before this research, I didn’t even know ants could look like this:
But ants of the Solomon Islands aren’t all red. Take, for example, Paraparatrechina minutula, which has the adaptation of being cute:
Perhaps my favorite of all (also red) is Colobostruma foliacea, because of its flat head:
These are only five of the 100 morphospecies collected, but I think they are a good representation of the diversity on these tropical islands. This most recent survey only included the island of Makira, and the results will serve inform future collection efforts. I also made a pretty species accumulation curve:
Because this does not attain an asymptote, further collecting would likely yield more species! Yay!
Anyways, if you don’t like ants, you should.
This reminds me of our family photos, what with the comically large heads and adaptations for cuteness and all.
And the way we’d bite the ground and fly backward fifty times our body length. Good times…