This weekend, I went to a S.I.N.N.E.R.S (Social insects in the northeast regions) conference held at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Most of the attendees were undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate students, but they welcomed me anyway.
There were many talks. I learned that winter ants (Prenolepis imparis) are the oldest lineage of ants to retain repleteism. During the lab workshop, I was able to see a piece of amber full of ants that lived millions of years ago. They also helped me identify a very small queen ant that I found downstairs in my house. It was dead when I found it. It turned out to be a Nylanderia deceptrix queen, a socially parasitic ant. I was also able to see a microscopic Discotheria queen using a stero scope. It was so small I couldn’t tell it was a queen without a scope, even though I have really good eyesight. It was that small.
Next year they are going to host the conference at Harvard, and I look forward to going again.
