NEW PAPER OUT! New Record of the Ant Subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Oklahoma

I am excited to announce our second manuscript was published about ants in the December issue of the The Southwestern Naturalist. This is the first time that this really cool, wasp-like ant was found in Oklahoma and represents a new locality record for the Pseudomyrmecinae subfamily. Another great find at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station!

Corrie Moreau visits Oklahoma

Every year the graduate students in the Biology department at the University of Oklahoma get to nominate a seminar speaker that they would like to host. This year, I had the pleasure of hosting Corrie Moreau and it was awesome! Corrie is a evolutionary biologist with interests in the origin, evolution, and adaptation of species and maintenanceContinue reading “Corrie Moreau visits Oklahoma”

Website Under Construction and New Paper Accepted

Off for break for a few weeks but I will be working on the research section of the website. The first draft of my dissertation chapter on fire ants and isotopes is finished and so begins the next one. Also, Diane and I just had another paper accepted in the Southwestern Naturalist about our Pseudomyrmex pallidus findContinue reading “Website Under Construction and New Paper Accepted”

Ants of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (2015)

Last weekend marked the final sampling period for a project that Diane and I have been working on throughout the summer. We were fortunate enough to have been granted a permit to set out pitfall traps and collect leaf litter in order to catalogue ants from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (WMWR). What an amazingContinue reading “Ants of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (2015)”

Ant Ecology at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station (UOBS)

  Labor day weekend brought about an interesting opportunity. Jelena Bujan, ant lover and fellow lab mate in Mike Kaspari’s lab, brought forth an idea about measuring the thermal performance of ants in Oklahoma. We jotted down a rough sketch for the project and then headed to the University of Oklahoma Biological Station (UOBS). Having been stationed there all summer, IContinue reading “Ant Ecology at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station (UOBS)”

Summer Research 2015 – University of Oklahoma Biological Station and Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

Check out my research on ants, size, and stable isotopes (CLICK ME)! Besides working on understanding how size affects an ant’s stable isotope signature, I have also been collecting, identifying, and creating species lists of ants at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station and the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. So far we have found new recordsContinue reading “Summer Research 2015 – University of Oklahoma Biological Station and Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge”