Paratrechina and Discothyrea revisions
I recently learned that John S. LaPolla of Towson University is working on a world revision of Paratrechina. I sent him an email and he said he would love to take a look at my Paratrechina specimens, although right now he is in the midst of finishing up the Malagasy Paratrechina. Awesome. Also, he is working with Jeffery Sosa-Calvo at the University of Maryland on a world revision of the genus Discothyrea. So I am going to send my Discos, too. Yay. I love Discothyrea, by the way. They're so cute. I have heard that they were named because their antennal clubs are so round and bulbous that they resemble disco balls, but it turns out to have been described by Roger in 1863, so that seems unlikely.
Anyway, if anyone else out there has Paratrechina and/or Discothyrea specimens, they might want to take a look at them. And if anyone else is working on any revisions and would like to get specimens, I would be happy to put an announcement up here.
From James Trager:
ReplyDeleteAlso this, since I was not, for some reason, able to post a comment at your blog. I can’t tell you what a relief it is that LaPolla has taken up Paratrechina. He seems really sharp and has as good a chance as anyone out there of figuring them out. People have been urging me to move beyond the Nearctic and revise the rest since my 1984 paper on the U.S. ones came out but, well, that would be a full-time endeavor and I only get to work on ants very part time these days. I do however, really look forward to seeing John’s work on them, and your pictures, too.
Cheers, James