If you’re going to pimp taxonomy articles on your web page, it’s probably a good idea to use a photo of the correct insect. Or at least try for an animal that shared a common ancestor with the target species within, say, the last 100 million years.
Love,
Myrmecos
If you’re wondering, the ants pictured above are yellow crazy ants, Anoplolepis gracilipes (a lovely photo from Flickr user binux).
The article covers trap-jaw ants in the genera Anochetus and Odontomachus.
But Anoplolepis and Anochetus start with the same three letters. Now, at least we know that our editors can spell.
Three-letter words, anyway.
Sheesh!
Psssss… and who was the editor of that paper anyways??
Taxonomy Fail Index = 21.26. Almost as bad as the infamous possum/cat!
I’m so glad to see the TFI catching on.
Wait …… are they going to bar code all of the worlds ants ???? I want to see this — pass the popcorn !
How dare they! (And I’m surprised the authors let them get away with it.)
As someone who knows little about ant taxonomy, can I ask what features stood out for you? Sorry, I know it may seem obvious to you, and that there must be certain “spots” that just stand out for ant taxonomists. I’m just curious to know what the features are in that picture.
And to Biobob, yes please. I do hope that “they” do barcode all of the ant and other species. 🙂 Mmm, popcorn…
From Antweb.org, here’s the head of Odontomachus coquereli– one of the species in the paper- with Anoplolepis inset:
Crikey! Well, that is pretty obvious. 🙂
Thanks for that.
I wouldn’t have picked on PLoS if it the distinction were subtle. But in this case it’s sort of like swapping a chipmunk for a rhinocerus, just because both are mammals.
I’m doubtful of the beer in the pimping on the right too. In my experience beer is a poor third to scotch and wine when scientists start guzzling, but maybe I know more taxonomists than ecologists now.