Friday, July 13, 2012
So busy doing SCIENCE!
Here at the ALE lab we are hard at work! Sorting samples, identifying bees, making maps, pointing at clip boards, staring at petri dishes, and other general doing science type things!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Collection of objects collected at field sites...
Every once in awhile we find strange objects in our field sites; mostly from the vacant lots in Cleveland...
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Weather Fail.
Not good news for a full day of field work.
Though it is probably good for the crops, they have been looking dry...
Though it is probably good for the crops, they have been looking dry...
Field work on July 4th!
Scott and I ventured into Cleveland this Independence Day to pick up his bee bowls and conduct floral diversity sampling. It was hot and we may have been a little loopy at the end due to a bit of heat exhaustion...but hopefully we got some good data for Scott's project!
Hopefully you stayed cool on this 4th of July!
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| Counting green bean flowers |
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| Measuring the radius of a lily to estimate floral area at the site |
Hopefully you stayed cool on this 4th of July!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Smallest known fly is an ant killer
The smallest known fly species has recently been identified by Brian Brown of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The fly, Euryplatea nanaknihali (Diptera: Phoridae), was discovered in Thailand, and is a member of the genus: Euryplatea, which are known to be phorid flies.
Phoridae is a family of small flies that can be identified by their humpback and many members are parasites of flies and bees. It is likely that the behavior of E. nanaknihali may be similar to that of other phorid flies which lay eggs in the body of an ant. The larva migrates to the ant's head and feeds on the muscles used to open and close the mouthparts, eventually eating the brain which causes the ant to wander for up to two weeks. The head falls off when the larva dissolve the membrane that keeps the head attached off. The larva then remain in the head where it pupates and hatches into an adult after two weeks.
The picture below shows E. nanaknihali on the right, and a size comparison with a house fly (Musca domestica) on the left.
Rough day to be a ant.
Sources:
Citation:
Brown B.V. (2012). Small Size No Protection for Acrobat Ants: World's Smallest Fly Is a Parasitic Phorid (Diptera: Phoridae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 105, 550-554.
Popular media article:
Live Science Article
Phoridae is a family of small flies that can be identified by their humpback and many members are parasites of flies and bees. It is likely that the behavior of E. nanaknihali may be similar to that of other phorid flies which lay eggs in the body of an ant. The larva migrates to the ant's head and feeds on the muscles used to open and close the mouthparts, eventually eating the brain which causes the ant to wander for up to two weeks. The head falls off when the larva dissolve the membrane that keeps the head attached off. The larva then remain in the head where it pupates and hatches into an adult after two weeks.
The picture below shows E. nanaknihali on the right, and a size comparison with a house fly (Musca domestica) on the left.
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| Credit: (c) Inna-Marie Strazhnik |
Rough day to be a ant.
Sources:
Citation:
Brown B.V. (2012). Small Size No Protection for Acrobat Ants: World's Smallest Fly Is a Parasitic Phorid (Diptera: Phoridae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 105, 550-554.
Popular media article:
Live Science Article
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