Monthly Archives: May 2013

Species spotlight: Myrmecocystus

Posted on May 31, 2013 by

I was typing another blogpost, which involved such an amazing species of ants that I decided to introduce it first in a species spotlight, before posting the actual science-related piece. Honeypot ants (Myrmecocystus) are well known in the USA, as … Continue reading →

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Science: How to restrain your cattle

Posted on May 28, 2013 by

One thing you might notice when walking through your garden, is big patches of small insects on the stem of a plant. These insects, known as aphids, feed on plant sap. However, this sap mostly consist of sugars, while containing … Continue reading →

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Something Else Sunday: War of the Worlds in reverse

Posted on May 26, 2013 by

If you have read/seen the War of the Worlds (I admit to only having seen the 2005 version of it), you might remember that in the end, after destroying half of the world, the aliens suddenly collapse, as they got … Continue reading →

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Science: Time to dissolve my brain!

Posted on May 24, 2013 by

Founding a new colony is not an easy task for an ant. In a lot of ant species, there is a mating flight, where males and virgin queens fly out of their colonies and mate with each other in the … Continue reading →

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Science: The ultimate sacrifice…as a routine

Posted on May 22, 2013 by

If you were an ant, what would you do when you don’t want your nest-entrance to be found? Many ants answer this question by trying to block off their nest-entrance at night, presumably in order to prevent predators and parasites … Continue reading →

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Science: Vaccination by kissing

Posted on May 20, 2013 by

Everyone knows that when you’re sick, you shouldn’t kiss or have too much contact with other people (unless you intentionally want to make them sick). In ants, this works in an entirely different way. If you get sick, your immune … Continue reading →

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Humble beginnings

Posted on May 20, 2013 by

So…now that a new blog about ants has been born, why not link that to another exciting thing: the start of some ant colonies! It’s been a long time since I kept ants. I used to keep many colonies (Lasius … Continue reading →

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