theantlady

Ant biologist, bicyclist, rower, informal artist, book-lover.

Flickr: https://flickr.com/photos/90295829@N00/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rebeccaclark6482

Last Notes

2025-09-08 18:58:47 UTC

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Agreed, the "invasive species" aspect of that article is way overblown.
What do you mean by the bigger issue being the collecting and poor documentation?

2025-09-08 18:47:41 UTC

Interesting to think of the ant black market (nb not the same as the "black ant market") as a sign of the times.
https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/09/04/federal-staffing-cuts-are-fueling-the-illegal-ant-trade

2025-02-27 22:24:23 UTC

ALERT: The USGS Wild Bee Lab is currently going into hibernation mode. They are accepting volunteer help as they work to shutter collections without knowing whether/when they will be able to work on them again.
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eesc/science/usgs-bee-lab-eastern-ecological-science-center

2024-10-07 22:33:40 UTC

A quick peek at one of the more successful desert leafcutter ant colonies I started back in July. They have a large pile of brood on top of their fungus garden. The large ants with paint dots on their thoraxes are queens. One queen has a mini fungus garden growing over her paint dot, which tells me something about what the ants think about being painted.
#ants
https://sb-dmmohcylpb.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/113/268/511/221/633/512/original/0d225d562e9de159.jpeg

2024-08-27 03:50:59 UTC

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After an ant queen has mated, she tears off her wings and then runs around looking for a place to start a new nest. So if she still has wings, she hasn't mated yet. I haven't managed to capture video of it yet, but it's really cool to watch.

2024-08-27 02:28:30 UTC

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What a cutie! Also, a girl. But if she's holding onto her wings, she may need more time in the wild to find a mate.