ants
-
Late Insecta
Not a single bee, wasp, or butterfly spotted yesterday in Green-Wood during lunch. There was a suggestion or two of fly, and at least one spider. The first real day of winter, then, bug-wise. Last weekend, though, these stragglers were spotted: Differential Grasshopper, a big one. One of the confusing Syrphid flies. Clouded Sulphur. Vinegar…
-
Mushroom Monday
To everything there is a season, and these mushrooms were on the way to deliquescing into ooze. Ants in the first picture. In the second, the white rice-looking things are alive. They are some kind of springtails, possibly of the genus Ceratophysella, and are scavenging on the rich fruit of these fruiting bodies. As always,…
-
Whose Woods?
In Sweden, the woods belong to the red wood ants (Formica). They build large mounds, are essential forest managers, and aren’t afraid of taking on bigger critters.A young Kopparödla or Slowworm (Anguis fragilis) is being taken down. (Movie) Duncan takes a closer look at one of the mounds. This was the last we saw of…
-
Ants in Your Stockings
Better than coal, right? Hell, what isn’t? The Eleanor Spicer Rice series of books about ants are for the younger naturalist, but we can all learn a thing or two about these omnipresent critters in these pages. I perused Dr. Eleanor’s Book of Common Ants and Dr. Eleanor’s Ants of New York City; Chicago and…
-
Ant Farm
Ants herding a flock of aphids. The ants protect the aphids from other predators and harvest the aphids’ sweet honeydew for themselves. The aphids go about their business sucking plant juices. Just another day in Brooklyn.
-
Winged Ones
Hymenoptera, the insect order that includes the wasps, bees, and ants, are named after their “membrane wings.” But ants don’t have wings, at least not in the colony, where such appendages would get in the way. The reproductives, males and virgin queens, however, do have wings. The queens break their wings off after mating flights…
-
Ant, Wing
An ant wrestles with a lepidoptera wing. An aerodynamic challenge.
-
Long Horns
Sometimes you don’t notice the details (or the scandalously narrow field of focus) of a macro shot until later. Check out these great big antenna, like something you’d find on long-horned cattle. This worker ant is busy on that understory delight Spicebush, Lindera benzoin.
-
Ant swarm
Last night about 3:30 I was informed that the Back 40 (inches), my little piece of Brooklyn backyard, was swarming with ants. Last week, I missed a twig-shaped caterpillar eating one of my plants around 4 a.m. I regretted not getting out of bed to see that. So last night I did get out of…
Backyard and Beyond 