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Tribute to Thomas Belt

As Ossein correctly commented, the naturalist who first realized that leafcutter ants were feeding on fungi rather than leaves (trivia question in the Fungus Gardener post) was Thomas Belt.

I first ran across Thomas Belt in the selection of essays about insects, Insect Lives edited by Erich Hoyt and Ted Schultz. In this collection the editors [...]

Tribute to Howard Ensign Evans

While in Fort Collins, Colorado last month I spent a few minutes peering into small holes in the ground.

Why? This hole was not made by ants.

Instead, the hole was constructed by a digger wasp. By looking for wasps in action, I was paying tribute to Dr. Howard Ensign Evans, who spent most of his life [...]