Excuse my Ignorance

Scientists have discovered a new ant species from the Philippines and named it the ‘pirate ant’ because of a distinctive dark stripe across its eyes that resembles a pirate eye patch.

Cardiocondyla pirata or the pirate ant has a bizarre pigmentation pattern in its eyes.
The female castes in the colonies of these species can be recognised by the dark stripe across the eyes that resembles a pirate eye patch, which inspired the authors to choose the name of the species.
“On a collection trip to the Philippines we looked for different species of the genus Cardiocondyla that is known for its astonishing morphological and behavioural diversity of male ants,” said researcher Sabine Frohschammer from Universitat Regensburg in Germany.
“Beside already known species we also detected a until then undiscovered species in the cleavage of big stones in a shady streambed.
“Due to the darkness of the rainforest and the translucent body parts of the tiny ants they were nearly invisible. Under bright light and a magnifier we detected the nice stripe across the eyes and therefore always referred to these species as ‘the pirates’,” Frohschammer said.
The adaptive significance of the extraordinary pigmentation pattern is still a mystery to scientists.
The poor vision and the fact that these ants mate in the dark exclude one of the most obvious hypotheses that the dark patch serve as a sign for sexual differentiation and thus a cue for recognition during mating.
A possible guess about the function of this bizarre pirate-like colouration pattern is that it serves as a tool to distract and confuse the enemy.
The combination of the dark stripes together with a rather translucent body when living could leave the impression in predators that the anterior and posterior body parts are in fact two separate objects.
The study was published in the journal Zookeys.

text by Bussines-standart

Photo by g1.globo

Photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:41:38 -0500

f-l-e-u-r-d-e-l-y-s: Artist Kris Kuksi is perhaps one of the...

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:39:55 -0500

f-l-e-u-r-d-e-l-y-s:

Artist Kris Kuksi is perhaps one of the most frequently submitted artists appearing in Colossal’s in box each month, so it’s with great honor that I finally share his work on this blog for the first time. Kuksi is famous for his Baroque-influenced assemblages that seem to splinter out like sculptural fractals, each component fused to another object or detail even smaller and intricate. Via his artist statement:

Kris Kuksi garners recognition and acclaim for the intricate sculptures that result from his unique and meticulous technique. A process that requires countless hours to assemble, collect, manipulate, cut, and re-shape thousands of individual parts, finally uniting them into an orchestral-like seamless cohesion that defines the historical rise and fall of civilization and envisions the possible future(s) of humanity.

llbwwb: Bison by Buck Shreck.

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:36:01 -0500

llbwwb:

Bison by Buck Shreck.

magicalnaturetour: Serval Portrait

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:35:47 -0500

magicalnaturetour:

Serval Portrait

akumeno: 681 by ~Nigrita

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:35:20 -0500

akumeno:

681 by ~Nigrita

plant-a-day: Photos courtesy of Vlmastra, Alan S. Heilman, and...

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:34:13 -0500

plant-a-day:

Photos courtesy of Vlmastra, Alan S. Heilman, and Natural Landscapes Nursery.

Kalmia latifolia aka Mountain Laurel, Spoon Bush, and Lambkill. Native to eastern United States.

it8bit: Stunning Pixel Art Created by Waneella

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:33:52 -0500

it8bit:

Stunning Pixel Art

Created by Waneella

random

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:31:00 -0500

i need to buy a compass, i gave my old one away

having goose bumps with a full body sunburn hurts, i feel like a lizard shedding skin too

i don’t like passive aggression from people

i don’t get why some girls thought some other girl was snobby and pretentious when in reality she was just shy, some people have some kind of inferior complex… haha competitive/tribal monkeys

i don’t like reading straight people’s written fantasies and stereotypes of gay men or lesbian women

i need to reblog more pictures and stuff…

Neuroscience: China's One-Child Policy Affects Personality

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:14:17 -0500

Neuroscience: China's One-Child Policy Affects Personality:

neurosciencestuff:

In 1979 China instituted the one-child policy, which limited every family to just one offspring in a controversial attempt to reduce the country’s burgeoning population. The strictly enforced law had the desired effects: in 2011 researchers estimated that the policy prevented 400 million births….

yahoo bought tumblr, i’m le sad but money doesn’t come from trees, it’s comes from...

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:43:40 -0500

yahoo bought tumblr, i’m le sad but money doesn’t come from trees, it’s comes from debt… i’m so tired… i want to be sad but i can’t show anyone…

everminding: Castello di Sammezzano in Reggello, Tuscany,...

Wed, 08 May 2013 02:21:29 -0500

everminding:

Castello di Sammezzano in Reggello, Tuscany, Italy.

There's a Moth that looks like a spider

Tue, 07 May 2013 23:39:23 -0500

did-you-kno:

The Lygodium Spider Moth, or Siamusotima aranea, is a species of moth that looks like a spider.

likeafieldmouse: John Foster - Sparkle Palace Cocktail...

Tue, 07 May 2013 23:38:28 -0500

likeafieldmouse:

John Foster - Sparkle Palace Cocktail Table (2012)