He aquí la primera toma de contacto para dar respuesta a una de las preguntas más difíciles a las que se ha enfrentado el ser humano: ¿Y eso para qué sirve? Hasta aquí podemos contar del Proyecto Nigella. #biodiversidad #nigella #Investigación #ciencia

En este #libro se explican algunos comportamientos de los más interesantes del fascinANTe mundo de las #hormigas,

🔬 We have just published the first description of a massive outbreak of Metopoplax ditomoides in a natural habitat. Thousands of individuals covered vehicles and infrastructure in Doñana, a behaviour previously unknown for this species. 📖 Full paper: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

🐜 Las hormigas en la tele: divulgación en Canal Málaga 📺 Nuestro socio @jmvidalcordero.bsky.social ha participado en el programa "El porqué de las cosas" de Canal Málaga presentado por Adolfo Arjona, un espacio dedicado a acercar la ciencia al público general.

🌿 In the morning, @jmvidalcordero.bsky.social led a workshop dedicated to discovering the diversity, ecology, and behavior of ants.

📺 Hace ná, tuve el placer de participar en el programa El porqué de las cosas, de Canal Málaga, presentado por Adolfo Arjona, para hablar sobre uno de mis temas favoritos: las #hormigas. youtu.be/kpCS1XiY3rY #mirmecología #entomología #divulgación #hormigas #ciencia

📢 ¡TAXOMARA 2026: REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! 🌍 It's official! Registration is now open for the XX Iberian Congress of Myrmecology, which will be held at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Móstoles Campus, Madrid) from July 8th to 10th, 2026.

🐜 @jmvidalcordero.bsky.social is part of the Water and Terrestrial Environment Team within the Environmental Monitoring Area at ICTS-Doñana, where he works on the comprehensive monitoring of the entomofauna of the Doñana Natural Area.

🧪 ICTS-Doñana in Seville Science Fair 2026 🦋 @jmvidalcordero.bsky.social , José Ruíz, and Rocío Fernández Zamudio, from the Water and Terrestrial Environment Team of the Environmental Monitoring Area, took part in the Science Fair to showcase how biodiversity is studied in Doñana.

🐜 Las hormigas que nos rodean: ciencia que sigue sorprendiendo y apasionando. 🎙️Nuestro socio @jmvidalcordero.bsky.social participó en “Andalucía es Naturaleza”, de Radio Andalucía, acercando al público la fascinante diversidad del mundo de las hormigas.

🐜 The new volume of our Iberomyrmex magazine is now available! 📄 You can now check out the latest issue of Iberomyrmex 2025, the official bulletin of the Iberian Association of Myrmecology, on our website.

De nuevo en CanalSur Radio y Televisión, en Andalucía es Naturaleza, para hablaros de #hormigas, desmentir bulos, recordar lo importantes que son y asombrar al oyente con los comportamientos más bizarros. Accede a la entrevista completa a partir del minuto 16 en: www.canalsur.es/radio/progra...

🔬 Ants returns to Ciencia en el Barrio 🎤 Our member @jmvidalcordero.bsky.social is once again taking part in Ciencia en el Barrio, bringing the fascinating world of ants closer to the general public through science communication.

🦋 Counting butterflies in Doñana 🧵 1/4 👩‍🔬 Rocío Fernández Zamudio and @jmvidalcordero.bsky.social took part in the outreach talk “Discover ICTS-Doñana: Counting butterflies in Doñana”, part of the activity program of the @csicandalextrem.bsky.social.

🌿 On the bank of a river in the Sierra Norte of Seville, the calm water revealed a subtle yet fascinating scene: the mating of Hydrometra stagnorum, an aquatic bug (Hemiptera) capable of moving across the surface as if defying gravity. 🧵1/5

🌿 In any lagoon in #Doñana, a formidable predator may be lurking: the larva of a diving beetle from the genus Cybister (family Dytiscidae), an insect perfectly adapted for hunting.

🌿 In my work around Doñana, it’s easy to come across one of those small marvels that give my favorite animals a hard time: the funnel-shaped traps of Myrmeleontidae larvae, commonly known as antlions.

🌿 En mi trabajo por Doñana es fácil toparse con uno de esos pequeños prodigios que traen fritas a mis animales favoritos. Las trampas en forma de embudo de las larvas de Myrmeleontidae, vulgarmente conocidas como hormigas-león. Bajo cada cono de arena, un depredador al acecho.

🐜 Hormigas “clonadoras” en la radio 🧵 1/5 🎙️ Nuestro socio @jmvidalcordero.bsky.social ha participado en Onda Cero, donde ha ayudado a explicar uno de los fenómenos más llamativos descritos recientemente en hormigas: la producción de individuos de otra especie por parte de una reina.

Hace poco volví a Ciencia en el Barrio, una iniciativa del CSIC que acerca la #ciencia a centros donde no siempre llega, para romper barreras y despertar vocaciones; compartir la #mirmecología con alumnado de 3º de la ESO del IES San Pablo (Sevilla) fue toda una experiencia.

🩸 Esta semana me crucé con una hembra #garrapata de la especie #Hyalomma lusitanicum cruzando un cortafuegos completamente hinchada tras su última sangría. En este estado, su misión consiste en encontrar un lugar seguro en el suelo donde depositar sus huevos y cerrar así su ciclo vital.

🐜 Taller de Mirmecología: descubre el fascinANTe mundo de las #hormigas y aprende a identificar especies ibéricas. 🌿 16 de mayo, Reserva de San Gaspar (Jerez). Teoría + campo + laboratorio. 📍 Plazas limitadas 👉 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

🐜 Hace poco estuve en Onda Cero, concretamente en "Más de uno", dentro de la sección de Aparici en Órbita, para hablar de uno de los fenómenos más sorprendentes que se ha descubierto recientemente: #hormigas capaces de producir machos de otra especie 🤯 🎙️ bit.ly/4uHHleL

A Stictoponera menadensis (subfamily Ectatomminae) worker foraging in the leaf litter at Danum Valley, Sabah, plus another specimen on white background. Colonies of this species often lack queens. Instead, unlike in most ants, workers can mate and take over egg laying as so-called “gamergates”.

How fun! I was invited to write a "Species Spotlight" for Nature Ecology & Evolution @natecoevo.nature.com and I chose my favorite species the Florida turtle ant Cephalotes varians! rdcu.be/e5EZK Including a stunning photo of ants I collected by @alexwild.bsky.social

Portraits of the Dolichoderus colony members inhabiting the epiphytic myrmecophyte (ant plant) in Danum Valley, Borneo: A queen, a worker, and a male.

A few tropical acrobat ants taking nectar from a Heliconia flower. Minca, Colombia.

The beautiful Camponotus kaura is a night-active ant endemic to the eastern Caribbean. El Yunque, Puerto Rico.

This is…not an ant. It’s the ant-mimicking nymph of a true bug (Heteroptera). Check out the long proboscis, which the bug has inserted into a leaf to suck phloem sap. Proof once again that everything wants to be an ant. Sabah, Borneo.

Here is another ant-mimicking spider from Sabah, this time from Danum Valley. This is a jumping spider in the subtribe Myrmarachnina, literally meaning “ant spiders”. Constrictions of the cephalothorax and opisthosoma give it the appearance of an ant with a separate head and “wasp waist”.

In the Myrmicaria ant garden, I made a serendipitous discovery: an ant-mimicking spider in the genus Serendib (possibly S. volans?), which I hadn’t seen before. The first image shows a Myrmicaria worker on the carton nest for comparison. The second image shows the spider. Tambunan, Sabah.

In Asian rainforests, several ant species in the genera Camponotus, Crematogaster, Diacamma, Pheidole and Philidris construct ant gardens by cultivating epiphytic plants in arboreal carton nests. This image shows such an ant garden in Tambunan, Sabah.

OK, one more Leptogenys from Danum Valley before we move on to other ants, just to show off the diversity of this genus. These ants are from a large (many hundred if not thousands of workers) colony I found in and under a rotting log. I don’t know which species this is - suggestions are welcome.

Leptogenys diminuta is another species with army ant-like behavior. Colonies are smaller though, measuring only a few hundred workers. The ants are nomadic and hunt in columns. Sabah, Borneo.

Sneaking around the world in plant pots, soil, and other shipments, the granulate crypt ant Hypoponera opaciceps is native to South America but is now found broadly across North America and Pacific islands.

Like their doryline counterparts, Leptogenys army ants host diverse communities of guest insects. Here are two of these myrmecophiles, a silverfish (possibly Malayatelura ponerophila) and a featherwing beetle (ptiliidae), both hitching a ride on pupae that the ants carry. Danum Valley, Sabah.

Another swarm-raiding Leptogenys from Danum Valley. Like any proper army ant, these guys are nomadic, and here they are during a colony relocation. Unlike in phasic army ants, the colony contains offspring at widely different developmental stages, from larvae and pupae to young adults.

These Florida harvester ant major workers never looked real to me. Just a ridiculously large head tacked on to a regular harvester ant body. Archbold Biological Station, Florida.

A razorjaw ant (genus Leptogenys) from Danum Valley, Sabah. Same species I posted yesterday. Leptogenys is the most species-rich ponerine genus. Most species have small colonies and are specialist predators, but some, like this one, have evolved massive colonies and a generalist diet.

Among the ants I most wanted to see during my recent trip to Borneo were swarm-raiding ponerine army ants in the genus Leptogenys. Just like swarm-raiding army ants in the subfamily Dorylinae, these species have a generalist diet. Here they are subduing a whip scorpion, or vinegaroon. Danum Valley.

Australian Camponotus sugar ants are a lot more variable than our North American species. Here's Camponotus suffusus, from Victoria.

Whenever I see this photo of harvester ants working on their nest, I think how it looks like they planted a decorative tree by their door like they have an HOA or something. (Pogonomyrmex desertorum, west Texas)

I didn't notice that I'd photographed this weird ant-mimicking bug running with a column of Anonychomyrma ants until I was processing the photos. I can't find any research on this, either. (Photo from Wilson's Prom, Victoria, the southernmost point of continental Australia).

One of Australia's most common and distinctive ants is the colorful Rhytidoponera metallica, seen here with silken cocoons in the brood nest. Diamond Creek, Victoria.

Was surprised to find a new-to-me jack jumper species, Myrmecia fulvipes, in a small park I’ve been visiting for 20 years. The ant looks nearly as surprised as me!

Algunos parecidos son realmente impresionANTes...

🐜Ants in a teapot!!! Our researchers documented Camponotus nicobarensis escaping a home formicarium and nesting in ceramic teapots, raising brood successfully. A striking example of ant adaptability and a warning about risks linked to exotic ant trade. 🔗https://shorturl.at/NruKr #Ants #AnimalTrade

Hovering battles at the ant nest: the remarkable behavior of a rare ant parasitoid wasp ⚔️ In this blog, Satsuki shares her discovery of fights between female wasps competing for access to ant larvae. insectessociaux.com/2025/12/27/h... #InsectesSociaux #Entomology #ParasitoidWasps #AnimalBehavior

¡La Asociación Ibérica de Mirmecología os desea una Feliz Navidad y un próspero 2026!

Y todavía existen personas que piensan que solo hay tres especies de #hormigas: las negras, las rojas y las amarillas...