Dr. Eleanor's Book of Common Ants of California

Eleanor Spicer Rice; Alex Wild; Rob Dunn

Eleanor Spicer Rice, Alex Wild and Rob Dunn

Dr. Eleanor's Book of Common Ants of California

University of Chicago Press | 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226398518

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Contents

About this book

Did you know that for every human on earth, there are about one million ants? They are among the longest-lived insects—with some ant queens passing the thirty-year mark—as well as some of the strongest. Fans of both the city and countryside alike, ants decompose dead wood, turn over soil (in some places more than earthworms), and even help plant forests by distributing seeds. But while fewer than thirty of the nearly one thousand ant species living in North America are true pests, we cringe when we see them marching across our kitchen floors.

No longer! In this witty, accessible, and beautifully illustrated guide, Eleanor Spicer Rice, Alex Wild, and Rob Dunn metamorphose creepy-crawly revulsion into myrmecological wonder. Emerging from Dunn’s ambitious citizen science project Your Wild Life (an initiative based at North Carolina State University) and the work of Brian Fisher with the California Academy of Sciences, Dr. Eleanor’s Book of Common Ants of California provides an eye-opening entomological overview of the natural history of California’s species most noted by project participants—and even offers tips on keeping ant farms in your home. Exploring species from the high noon and harvester ants to the honeypot and acrobat ants, and featuring Wild’s stunning photography, this guide will be a tremendous resource for teachers, students, and scientists alike. But more than this, it will transform the way Californians perceive the environment around them by deepening their understanding of its littlest inhabitants, inspiring everyone to find their inner naturalist, get outside, and crawl across the dirt—magnifying glass in hand.

Author information

Eleanor Spicer Rice (www.verdantword.com) is an entomologist and writer living in Raleigh, North Carolina, whose newspaper and magazine topics range from belly button biodiversity to blue crabs in bath tubs. She received her PhD in entomology from North Carolina State University. Alex Wild (www.alexanderwild.com) is a wildlife photographer and curator of entomology at the University of Texas, Austin. Rob Dunn is a biologist and writer at North Carolina State University. He is the author of Every Living Thing: Man’s Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys; The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Who We Are Today; and The Man Who Touched His Own Heart: True Tales of Science, Surgery, and Mystery.

Reviews

“Spicer Rice’s style is clear, fluid, and engaging. . . . Especially lovely is the abundance of photographs by Alex Wild, the Ansel Adams of arthropods.”

— Carl Zimmer, National Geographic’s “The Loom”

“Ant genetics and reproduction are complex topics, but Spicer Rice makes it easy to understand with minimal jargon. The species descriptions seem like stories about eccentric and entertaining relatives, rather than ants.”

— Gwen Pearson, WIRED

“Fun. . . . [and a] great stocking stuffer. . . . Entomologist Dr. Eleanor doesn’t make the mistake of humanizing ants, but she does elevate the tiny insects into a realm of fascination. Despite what the stream of ants in your back yard might indicate, the Argentine ant is not the only species in town.”

— Los Angeles Times

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	v
Preface Free access PDF PDF	vii
Introduction Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
01. Pavement Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	11
02. Winter Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	15
03. Thief Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	21
04. Odorous House Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	25
05. Carpenter Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	32
06. Southern Fire Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	39
07. Field Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	44
08. High Noon Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	49
09. Argentine Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	54
10. Pogonomyrmex Harvester Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	60
11. Velvety Tree Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	65
12. Veromessor H arvester Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	69
13. Honeypot Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	75
14. Acrobat Ant Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	80
Frequently Asked Questions Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	85
How to Keep Ants at Home Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	90
Epilogue Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	103
Acknowledgments Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	107
Glossary Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	109
Additional Resources Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	117

Dr. Eleanor's Book of Common Ants of California

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