A Fearless jewel
NOT a Bird Dropping
Enero 24, 2020
The discerning eye of staff scientist, Annette Aiello, observed the fearless behavior of an iridescent insect resembling a bird dropping containing embedded, blue seeds.
The discerning eye of staff scientist, Annette Aiello, observed the fearless behavior of an iridescent insect resembling a bird dropping containing embedded, blue seeds.
Researchers learned from some unusual sweat bee species on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, how the sophisticated division of labor in highly complex insect societies can arise from humble beginnings.
STRI staff scientist and evolutionary biologist Bill Wcislo discusses the foibles of social bees and farming ants and the evolution of their behavior in changing environments. In a time of crisis, what can we learn from these insects about their highly efficient public health care systems?
The first time Dumas Gálvez saw the ant species Ectatomma ruidum under a microscope, he was just a little boy. He was immediately fascinated. A few decades later, as a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), a professor in the entomology department at the University of Panama and a mentor to young scientists, he does research on that same ant species. Listen to him narrate every step of his academic journey: his experiences, mentors, mistakes and lessons learned.
Join Jose Loaiza, STRI Research Associate and Senior Scientist at Panama’s INDICASAT-AIP, for the latest information about the role of disease transmission by mosquitos in Panama.
Just as contemporary human societies depend on large-scale agriculture, leaf-cutter ants depend on a long, co-evolved relationship with a fungus. As humans, we may share some of the same rules that govern their relationship.
The disproportionate extinction of South American mammals when the Americas collided is still evident today
Annette Aiello has a natural history radar system that most of us lack. An observation of an insect exoskeleton on a potted plant may lead to the identification of a new insect species.
“Her unification of developmental plasticity and genetics is a huge advance in our understanding of evolution. Her decades-long work with tropical social wasps focusing on careful field observation is testimony to what a careful observer of natural history can contribute to evolutionary biology.”-the Linnean Society
Sweat bees navigate through dark tropical forests guided by canopy patterns.