#ant propaganda

[futurebird]

ant mimic spider: Wow! I love hanging out with my fellow ants! So fun to interact with other ants (like myself, a real ant) with my totally normal antennae! ant mimic beetle: Totally! So, great and fun to be an ant. (And to be so very ant-shaped and not at all thick around the middle.) We are both excellent anty ants. ant mimic wasp: Oh YES. I agree too! Totally. And we all have such nice svelte waists and jointed antennae. Ha ha. Normal antennae. ANTennae, if you will! I love being a valid and real ant. Ha ha ha. ant mimic spider: Ha ha ha. ant mimic beetle: Ha ha... hm. spider: There are no ants here ... are there? beetle: God dammit.

[ratbugs]

finally, now that’s the kind of ads i want to see

🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜

[futurebird]

Perfectly sensible sign.

[futurebird]

she

Her long legs

her dark eyes

her golden hair.

[futurebird]

Recruitment targets for our next expansion

People who can be (easily) turned into Ant People: * Plant Gall People * Wasp Fans * Lichen Folk * Isopod Fans (If they also like the marine species ONLY) * Slime mold hobbyists * Mole rat fans? (maybe?) * People who promote "The Ediacaran" period * Cellular Automata Farmers * Simulation fans generally * Mite enthusiasts

People who can (probably) NOT be turned into Ant People: * Termite fans (there is a hostility) * Rose breeders * Outdoor electronics gadget makers

[futurebird]

If you look up "symbolism of ants" most often mentioned are efficiency & industrious ... but if you really watch ants you'll discover they aren't efficient at all. I have no doubt that they want to be efficient. It's listed as an "ant virtue" in my plans for their planet. It's one of the most popular ant names. In reality ants struggle a with all tasks it's more about brute force & sheer numbers than efficiency.

Industriousness? "do what you know you can do; no more, no less" is the ant motto.

[futurebird]

Colony updates!

I saw the biggest ant in my colonies, the huge queen of my Camponotus pennsylvanicus is alive and laying eggs.

She is four years old.

Meanwhile the cone ants (Dorymyrmex) are raising queen alates! look how huge they are.

And the ruby minis (Camponotus discolor) have tons of eggs!

[futurebird]

I just realized that Messor barbarus can't sting. And now I need to rethink something I thought was obvious about seed collecting ants.

Pogonomyrmex and Veromessor (the genuses of harvester ants we have in the Americas) can sting. It seems that much like "Army Ants" the group "harvester ants" isn't as cohesive as I thought.

That said... they are somewhat related, both practice social hybridogenesis.

I'm stunned. Ants shock me every single day! They can't keep getting away with this!

Please don't ask me to explain this yet I'm still trying to understand what the heck these ants are even doing.

Hybridogenesis

Lavanchy and Schwander introduce hybridogenesis, a form of reproduction whereby in hybrids between closely related species only the genome o