Wild About Ants » Circus of the Spineless http://blog.wildaboutants.com Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:24:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Circus of the Spineless is Up http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/09/03/circus-of-the-spineless-is-up/ http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/09/03/circus-of-the-spineless-is-up/#comments Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:24:29 +0000 Roberta http://blog.wildaboutants.com/?p=1643 The August 2010 Circus of the Spineless (#54) is all set up at Hectocotyli, so go take a look at the newest “carny.”

And now the “carny” rolls over here to Wild About Ants for September. We’re looking for blog posts about all things invertebrate. Send your posts to wildaboutants AT gmail (dot) com and we [...]]]> The August 2010 Circus of the Spineless (#54) is all set up at Hectocotyli, so go take a look at the newest “carny.”

And now the “carny” rolls over here to Wild About Ants for September. We’re looking for blog posts about all things invertebrate. Send your posts to wildaboutants AT gmail (dot) com and we will try to fill that vacant field…

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]]> http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/09/03/circus-of-the-spineless-is-up/feed/ 0 Circus of the Spineless with an Invertebrate Menu http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/08/02/circus-of-the-spineless-with-an-invertebrate-menu/ http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/08/02/circus-of-the-spineless-with-an-invertebrate-menu/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:03:37 +0000 Roberta http://blog.wildaboutants.com/?p=1572 Amber at the Birder’s Lounge has posted the newest Circus of the Spineless.

To celebrate her menu of invertebrate delights, what better than a serving of escamoles?

Yummy!

Have you ever eaten ants?

Photograph from Wikimedia by Cvmontuy, Taken on “Los parados” Dr. vertis, Mexico D.F.

]]> Amber at the Birder’s Lounge has posted the newest Circus of the Spineless.

To celebrate her menu of invertebrate delights, what better than a serving of escamoles?

800px-Escamoles

Yummy!

Have you ever eaten ants?

Photograph from Wikimedia by Cvmontuy, Taken on “Los parados” Dr. vertis, Mexico D.F.

]]> http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/08/02/circus-of-the-spineless-with-an-invertebrate-menu/feed/ 2 Circus of the Spineless #52 is Up! http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/07/01/circus-of-the-spineless-52-is-up/ http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/07/01/circus-of-the-spineless-52-is-up/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:15:03 +0000 Roberta http://blog.wildaboutants.com/?p=1429 In June over already? That means it is time for another Circus of the Spineless Carnival! Find the invertebrates at Kind of Curious.

John has organized the posts in order of grossness of the critter in the spotlight. What fun!

]]> In June over already? That means it is time for another Circus of the Spineless Carnival! Find the invertebrates at Kind of Curious.

John has organized the posts in order of grossness of the critter in the spotlight. What fun!

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]]> http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/07/01/circus-of-the-spineless-52-is-up/feed/ 0 Circus of the Spineless #51 is up http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/06/03/circus-of-the-spineless-51-is-up/ http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/06/03/circus-of-the-spineless-51-is-up/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:12:48 +0000 Roberta http://blog.wildaboutants.com/?p=1265 For those of you who enjoy reading about invertebrates, the Circus of the Spineless carnival #51 is up at Deep-Sea News. Sadly, the carnival is a bit subdued (and oiled) due to the recent spill.

Myrmecologists should be sure to read Ted MacRae’s Revision of the Formicidae of North America. It’s a nice bit of humor!

]]> For those of you who enjoy reading about invertebrates, the Circus of the Spineless carnival #51 is up at Deep-Sea News. Sadly, the carnival is a bit subdued (and oiled) due to the recent spill.

Myrmecologists should be sure to read Ted MacRae’s Revision of the Formicidae of North America. It’s a nice bit of humor!

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]]> http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/06/03/circus-of-the-spineless-51-is-up/feed/ 0 New Circus of the Spineless http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/04/06/new-circus-of-the-spineless/ http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/04/06/new-circus-of-the-spineless/#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:53:42 +0000 Roberta http://blog.wildaboutants.com/?p=1079 Jason at Xenogere has posted to #49 issue of Circus of the Spineless.

If you have never seen a carnival by Jason, you will be surprised. His carnival posts are always so much more than a list of links.

And say “Hi!” to Rosy the wolfsnail.

]]> Jason at Xenogere has posted to #49 issue of Circus of the Spineless.

CoSButton1If you have never seen a carnival by Jason, you will be surprised. His carnival posts are always so much more than a list of links.

And say “Hi!” to Rosy the wolfsnail.

]]> http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/04/06/new-circus-of-the-spineless/feed/ 0 Circus of the Spineless Carnival is Up http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/03/01/circus-of-the-spineless-carnival-is-up/ http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/03/01/circus-of-the-spineless-carnival-is-up/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:27:34 +0000 Roberta http://blog.wildaboutants.com/?p=829 The February Circus of the Spineless Carnival 48:  The Cabinet of Curiosity is up at Matthew Sarver. The Circus of the Spineless celebrates all kinds of invertebrates.

If you are interested in the relationship of ants and blue butterflies, be sure to check Steve Willson’s post about Edward’s Hairstreak Pupa at Blue Jay Barrens. The Blue [...]]]> The February Circus of the Spineless Carnival 48:  The Cabinet of Curiosity is up at Matthew Sarver. The Circus of the Spineless celebrates all kinds of invertebrates.

If you are interested in the relationship of ants and blue butterflies, be sure to check Steve Willson’s post about Edward’s Hairstreak Pupa at Blue Jay Barrens. The Blue Jay Barrens is in southern Ohio.

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]]> http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/03/01/circus-of-the-spineless-carnival-is-up/feed/ 2 Circus of the Spineless Blog Carnival http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/02/01/circus-of-the-spineless-blog-carnival/ http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/02/01/circus-of-the-spineless-blog-carnival/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:11:16 +0000 Roberta http://blog.wildaboutants.com/?p=735 If you are interested in invertebrates, you should go visit the Circus of the Spineless Blog Carnival #47, now up at Beetles in the Bush. Ted MacRae has done an awesome job organizing and summarizing the posts.

After just posting about the sea slugs that make their own chorophyll at my Growing with Science blog, I [...]]]> If you are interested in invertebrates, you should go visit the Circus of the Spineless Blog Carnival #47, now up at Beetles in the Bush. Ted MacRae has done an awesome job organizing and summarizing the posts.CoSButton1

After just posting about the sea slugs that make their own chorophyll at my Growing with Science blog, I was particularly interested in the Sea slugs have self esteem too post.

Enjoy!

]]> http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/02/01/circus-of-the-spineless-blog-carnival/feed/ 0 Circus of the Spineless 46 is Up http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/01/03/circus-of-the-spineless-46-is-up/ http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/01/03/circus-of-the-spineless-46-is-up/#comments Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:40:55 +0000 Roberta http://blog.wildaboutants.com/?p=548 The Circus of the Spineless Carnival #46 is up at Adventures of a Free Range Urban Primate. Go see what is new in the world of invertebrates this month.

]]> The Circus of the Spineless Carnival #46 is up at Adventures of a Free Range Urban Primate. Go see what is new in the world of invertebrates this month.

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]]> http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/01/03/circus-of-the-spineless-46-is-up/feed/ 0 Ants and Salt http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2009/12/01/ants-and-salt/ http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2009/12/01/ants-and-salt/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:41:28 +0000 Roberta http://blog.wildaboutants.com/?p=434 When my very good friend Deb Sparrow sent me this photograph of a harvester ant collecting a piece of a blue corn chip that had fallen from her lunch, I immediately took it at face value. A harvester ant carrying a corn chip seems like an obvious combination. After some research, however, I am beginning [...]]]> When my very good friend Deb Sparrow sent me this photograph of a harvester ant collecting a piece of a blue corn chip that had fallen from her lunch, I immediately took it at face value. A harvester ant carrying a corn chip seems like an obvious combination. After some research, however, I am beginning to wonder whether the ant was also interested in another, not so obvious, aspect of the corn chip.

ant-blue-corn-chip

Photograph by Deb Sparrow (near the Hassayampa River in Arizona)

Recent research has shown that certain ants collect salt (sodium chloride). Michael Kaspari, Stephen P. Yanoviak, and Robert Dudley presented different species of ants baits with varying concentrations of salt (NaCl) versus two concentrations of the standard bait attractant, sucrose solution in water.

The scientists found the ants responded to the salt solutions depending on their distance from the ocean. Ants near the ocean presumably would have more salt available, carried to the land by wind and storms. In general, the further from the shore, the more the salt solution attracted ants and the steeper the dose response.

One interesting exception, however, were ants that generally are thought of as carnivorous, for example fire ants of the genus Solenopsis. The idea is that carnivorous ants get their salt through their prey, whereas vegetarian species, like the harvester ant above, would need to supplement their diet. The researchers also found that ants of the genus Pheidole did not respond to salt. The diets of many Pheidole are not well-studied, but at least a portion are also seed harvesters.

Guess I’ll be paying more attention to ants and salt from now on. I have to say that here in Arizona our water, and thus irrigated soil, is full of salts. In fact one of our main rivers, the Salt River, is named for the natural salt springs that feed it. Maybe our natural abundance of salt is one of the reasons why we have such a variety of ants.

What do you think of ants and salt?

References:

On the biogeography of salt limitation: A study of ant communities by
Michael Kaspari, Stephen P. Yanoviak, and Robert Dudley.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 November 18; 105(46): 17848–17851.

Ants More Attracted to Salt Than to Sugar by James Parker for The Daily Californian

The biogeography of sodium limitation by Dr. Michael E. Kaspari at The AntLab. Also see link to pdfs of his papers.

Inland Ants Crave Salt, and Hurricanes May Help by John Roach for National Geographic News

Edit:  The Circus of the Spineless is now up at Greg Laden’s Blog

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]]> http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2009/12/01/ants-and-salt/feed/ 3 Circus of the Spineless http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2009/11/04/circus-of-the-spineless/ http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2009/11/04/circus-of-the-spineless/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:13:52 +0000 Roberta http://blog.wildaboutants.com/?p=191 The 44th Edition of the Circus of the Spineless is up at Marmorkrebs.blogspot.com. The Circus of the Spineless is a monthly blog carnival devoted to all things invertebrate, including ants. It was started in 2005. If you are interested in finding out more, visit the Circus of the Spineless home page. Next month’s carnival will [...]]]> The 44th Edition of the Circus of the Spineless is up at Marmorkrebs.blogspot.com. The Circus of the Spineless is a monthly blog carnival devoted to all things invertebrate, including ants. It was started in 2005. If you are interested in finding out more, visit the Circus of the Spineless home page. Next month’s carnival will be at Greg Laden’s Blog.

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