[leps-talk] Re: The enemy ants

Woody Woods woody.woods at umb.edu
Wed Nov 12 13:44:35 EST 2003 

Army ants, indeed-- I twice had a 2-3 foot wide band of them come through an
old wooden house I way staying in in Costa Rica (when you say "old" and
"wooden" down there, it means that anything smaller than a wood rat can just
walk in). Just amazing to watch-- the first time, I was worried about my
computers and other electronic gear, because some insects just seem to love
circuit boards; I sprayed a line of DEET right across the band, but after a
half minute of discombolulation they reassembled and continued as though
nothing had happened.  Luckily these guys never went near the equipment.
What was remarkable was watching how spiders, beetles and other ants came
popping out of the planking chinks outside the house-- never knew I had so
many roommates. What was even more amazing was that the army ants didn't
touch some live butterflies I had in hanging cages or glassine envelopes
awaiting measurement-- the whole event was so dramatic that I just plain
forgot about them (their "army intelligence" could use some work!).

The second time, I just let 'em rip-- think of it as housecleaning!

Woody

*************************************************
William A. Woods Jr.
Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd
Boston, MA 02125

Lab: 617-287-6642
Fax: 617-287-6650
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> From: "Charles Bordelon" <legitintellexit at earthlink.net>
> Reply-To: "Charles Bordelon" <legitintellexit at earthlink.net>
> Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2003 12:54:15 -0600
> To: <patfoley at csus.edu>, <agrkovich at tmpeng.com>
> Cc: <stan_gorodenski at asualumni.org>, "Dr. James Adams"
> <jadams at em.daltonstate.edu>, <TILS-leps-talk at yahoogroups.com>,
> <TILS-moth-rah at yahoogroups.com>, <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
> Subject: [leps-talk] Re: The enemy ants
> 
> You guys shoulda seen what the army ants did at a sheet one night in
> Ecuador.  There must have been 20 trails of them, all coming from different
> directions.  The sheet was cleaned off in a matter of minutes.  Mark and
> Mike, the guys running the sheet, elevated it from off the ground, and
> sprayed 100% DEET around the perimeter.  Unbelieveably, it worked, but Mark
> looked like he was about to cry by the time they got finished.  One of the
> doofi wasn't wearing any shoes.  Ouch...  cb
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Patrick Foley" <patfoley at csus.edu>
> To: <agrkovich at tmpeng.com>
> Cc: <stan_gorodenski at asualumni.org>; "Dr. James Adams"
> <jadams at em.daltonstate.edu>; <TILS-leps-talk at yahoogroups.com>;
> <TILS-moth-rah at yahoogroups.com>; <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 12:20 PM
> Subject: The enemy ants
> 
> 
>> One odd trick I used to deal with ants in the tropics while spreading
>> leps is this.
>> 
>> I was carrying a Celestron 90 spotting scope case made of a flexible
>> plastic. I used this case to carry 2 of the standard insect boxes. They
>> fit perfectly in the case, and they were well protected. And the case is
>> very light.
>> 
>> So when ants started in on my spreading boards, I put the boards in the
>> case, in the sun. This dried out the specimens and protected them from
>> the ants, but allowed moisture to escape.
>> 
>> So my prescription for travelers is one Celestron 90 case (Adorama web
>> site), 2 insect boxes (Bioquip) and two or three spreading boards.
>> 
>> Patrick
>> patfoley at csus.edu
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Grkovich, Alex wrote:
>> 
>>> I have had one very bad expeience with ants...so I'm more careful
> now...My
>>> boards are in a large clear plastic container, with the lid sealed with
>>> weatherproofing...lucky that I didn't lose anything too valuable...but I
> did
>>> lose a very nice Hybrid Admiral (astyannax/arthemis)...
>>> Alex
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Stanley A. Gorodenski [SMTP:stan_gorodenski at asualumni.org]
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 11:38 AM
>>>> To: Dr. James Adams
>>>> Cc: TILS-leps-talk at yahoogroups.com; TILS-moth-rah at yahoogroups.com;
>>>> leps-l at lists.yale.edu
>>>> Subject: Re: [moth-rah] why I prefer moths from Steve Johnson
>>>> 
>>>> I had a similar problem once. I think it was a cricket or crickets that
>>>> did it. They are really vicious animals, at least in Arizona. Now I put
>>>> my boards either in the oven or in a plastic bag.
>>>> 
>>>> Dr. James Adams wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> this far north.  The only drawback was that when I went to take the
>>>>> specimen off the boards . . . AAAHH, something had *eaten* most of it.
> It
>>>> 
>>>>> was the only moth on the board that was touched (isn't this one of the
>>>>> axiom's of Murphy's Law?). I don't think it was a mouse -- there are no
>>>>> other indications that it was something that large and I believe it
> would
>>>> 
>>>>> have eaten a number of other things on the board. My guess is something
>>>>> like a house centipede (Scutigiera sp.). There was a head and just
> enough
>>>> 
>>>>> thorax left to glue back to the pin and give me something to glue the
>>>> 
>>>> wings
>>>> 
>>>>> to. Yeah, all four wings came through in reasonably decent shape. Oh
>>>> 
>>>> well,
>>>> 
>>>>> at least I still have an *identifiable* specimen -- as I mentioned
> above,
>>>> 
>>>>> it is my only one from Georgia.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
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