Post AwVnrYP8Qv52Sidfge by burnitdown@beige.party
(DIR) More posts by burnitdown@beige.party
(DIR) Post #AwVUg1J5FbgbUtaxY8 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-25T23:24:21Z
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I have questions about the concept of "Formicoid Myrmicine Ants" and "Formicoid Myrmeciinae Ants" ... isn't that just "anty anty ants" ?Then you have "Formicoid Pseudomyrmecinae Ants" (So anty fake-ant ants) and "Formicoid Formicinae Ants" also "anty anty ants"I need latin help. This is as bad as bears.
(DIR) Post #AwVVGc520Pe5yNTHA8 by emjonaitis@mathstodon.xyz
2025-07-25T23:30:55Z
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@futurebird tagging @thatandromeda
(DIR) Post #AwVVZ2dvz47ZZKaH7A by llewelly@sauropods.win
2025-07-25T23:34:17Z
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@futurebird I would guess myrmicine ants are members of the subfamily Myrmicinae, and formicoids are members of the superfamily Formicoidea . That's how those suffixes usually work.
(DIR) Post #AwVVa6dsbJIGGH4AC0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-25T23:34:18Z
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I guess I wonder how so many groups with distinctive features end up in multiple very similar kind of generic to the ant family names. Myrmeciinae ants are very distinctive with their long mandibles and big eyes. "Formicoid Formicinae Ants" kind of makes sense as this contains most of the very typical ants that people think of when they think "ant"
(DIR) Post #AwVVfLawR13K5HBuEa by cinebox@masto.hackers.town
2025-07-25T23:35:25Z
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@futurebird there’s a lot of ants, not all of them can be ant-shaped
(DIR) Post #AwVVkTKz4jEpXsAeVk by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-25T23:36:22Z
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@llewelly There are too many words on here that have the root "ant"
(DIR) Post #AwVW56O3bEeiRmRfN2 by llewelly@sauropods.win
2025-07-25T23:40:05Z
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@futurebird oh, I agree.unfortunately it's a rather pervasive issue in taxonomy; see also this one for crocs and their relatives. Not only do you have Crocodylomorpha, Crocodyliformes, etc, but many groups also have "suchus" (crocodile) in their names! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodylomorpha#Phylogeny
(DIR) Post #AwVZIFLTu3xzrHCS36 by llewelly@sauropods.win
2025-07-26T00:16:05Z
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@futurebird I am now realizing there is apparently both a Formicoid group of ant subfamilies , within Formicidae, and yet also a Formicoidea superfamily containing the family Formicidae ... that is extra confusing, given the usual abbreviation for a member of the superfamily Formicoidea would be Formicoid ... ugh.
(DIR) Post #AwVcOiSqqvF3ljQKki by Moss@beige.party
2025-07-26T00:50:50Z
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@futurebird Formicoid bears would be pretty bad, I agree.
(DIR) Post #AwVkwpoCqsJu1hByca by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-26T02:26:40Z
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@llewelly There are two kinds of ants. Formicoid ants. Or Ant ants. And Poneriod ants... EVIL ants (cus they can sting and look like wasps kinda)But then there are also the Secret Extra Ants, but there are not many of them. They are the sawflies of ants.
(DIR) Post #AwVlCBUyUYb9djW3oe by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-26T02:29:28Z
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@Moss ... or ... and stay with me here. Maybe that would be AWESOME?
(DIR) Post #AwVlrRiD7D6XnXNkaO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-26T02:36:54Z
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@llewelly Poner means "evil"Formi means "ant"Myrma means "ant"Dory mean "spear" (as in what a member of an army would carry. So Dorylinae ants are army ants)"Heteroponer" means "all kinds of different evil"The rest I don't know about.
(DIR) Post #AwVnTjK6BaRbNNvIHI by burnitdown@beige.party
2025-07-26T02:55:00Z
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@futurebird Spinal Tap does entymology.
(DIR) Post #AwVnrYP8Qv52Sidfge by burnitdown@beige.party
2025-07-26T02:59:19Z
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@futurebird @llewelly My Little Poneriod
(DIR) Post #AwVo7fHYd5biQVmE4W by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-26T03:02:14Z
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@untilted I think this makes as much sense as anything I've read. This is very helpful. What if anything do you make of "agroecomyrmecinae" ? myrmecinae ants, but from ... from a field?These are known as "armadillo ants" for what that is worth.
(DIR) Post #AwVogwEfaZm58sFIhc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-26T03:08:28Z
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@burnitdown @llewelly Eusociality is Magic.
(DIR) Post #AwVz8Ehg26i3mOT8dM by gneilyo@mastodon.online
2025-07-26T05:05:33Z
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@futurebird …so that mean formic acid is “ant acid” o_0
(DIR) Post #AwWb1gOQTxUzt7lb8a by emjonaitis@mathstodon.xyz
2025-07-26T12:07:57Z
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@thatandromeda @futurebird the scientists almost certainly deserve it, I mean, after naming a gene "sonic hedgehog" I'm surprised nobody's named some poor species "navicularis navisimilis" or the like
(DIR) Post #AwWb1hTmRXNNG1HO7c by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-07-26T12:10:05Z
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@emjonaitis @thatandromeda I think part of what's happened with ants, is they have been around and classified for a long time. So, you can find the reasons why it's like this. But I just long for clade and species names that illuminate, that are memorable. I want to submit that calling an ant, "ant" in three different ways is not doing that.
(DIR) Post #AwXP2Kpz6dBf25A4h6 by thatandromeda@ohai.social
2025-07-26T21:30:29Z
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@futurebird @emjonaitis i wonder if it’s like Felis catus. The cattiest of cats, the antiest of ants. Prototypical.