Today, we have a new challenge for you. It’s rather a fun one. If you don’t think so, then you can blame Dr. Eleanor (of the Common Book of Ants fame).
You see, as Dr. Eleanor was writing a new chapter about the ant, Forelius pruinosus, she took note that this very common, dare we say ubiquitous, ant had no common name. It lacked a snazzy moniker to set it apart from all the other common ants with interesting and descriptive names – ants like the big-headed ant, the carpenter ant, or the thief ant.
And while, yes, it’s the formal Latin name that is most important for discussing species in scientific circles, it’s really the common name that we use to chat about a species at cocktail parties and outreach events with public audiences.
So Dr. Eleanor has decided that we need to help this ant out. We couldn’t agree more!
Today, we’re launching a little contest. We want YOU to suggest a common name for Forelius pruinosus. Learn a little bit about this common ant by reading the poster and Dr. Eleanor’s chapter (excerpt below) and suggest a name in this blog’s comments. We’ll be asking visitors to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences on Darwin Day to do the same in person. Then, our School of Ants team will compile all the suggestions, select our top five, and the put them up for an online vote. We’ll submit the winning candidate to the Entomological Society of America (the organization that officially coordinates the common names of insects) to become the official common name of Forelius pruinosus.
We can’t wait to hear and read your suggestions!
An excerpt from Dr. Eleanor’s new chapter on Forelius pruinosus
The first time I ran into a Forelius pruinosus worker I’ll admit I was underwhelmed. I was ant hunting in a grassy park, laying bait to see which ant species lived in this anty jungle. I’d brought along the perfect enticement: tuna fish mixed with honey. I measured out this ant catnip onto an index card in a tiny spoonful, which I placed on a spot of bare ground under an oak tree. Then I lay in wait to see who would show up.
Before long, many of my old friends came nosing around. A rusty red field ant with speedy long legs was the first to arrive at the party, bending down, legs spread wide like a horse, to drink in the buffet. She was followed by a small flock of odorous house ants, who were chased away by a steady throng of shiny little black ants. A few acrobat ants briefly lurked around the index card’s borders, considering the feast and returning to their tree, evidently thinking better of it.
As the little black ants began to scatter, a collection of tentative ant workers I didn’t recognize loitered in a tidy line on the sidelines. Plain-Jane, brownish-red and about half the size of an apple seed, these ladies were otherwise unremarkable in appearance. Unlike the frantic field ants or the spirited little black ants, they were a bit boring.
Watching these austere, drab ladies as they efficiently carried off the remaining bits of index card bounty, I almost felt sorry for them. Where are the great spines of winnow ants? The gargantuan size of wood ants? The giant noodles of big-headed ants? The happy, heart-shaped bottoms of acrobat ants? Unembellished at best, Forelius pruinosus, very common ants with no common name (Klotz and Hansen 2008; Whitford 1999), don’t make a knockout first impression.
**UPDATE – 2/18/2013** WOW! We’ve been impressed with the MANY suggestions contributed in the comments of the blog and in-person by attendees at Darwin Day at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences this past Saturday (February 16, 2013). Here’s a pic of some of the suggestions – Keep ’em coming here on the blog, on Facebook, or via Twitter (#namethatant) – We’ll post a compilation here shortly and work on selecting our five finalist candidates soon!
[…] North Carolina’s Your Wildlife group has noticed that Forelius, among the most abundant ants in sun-baked habitats across the southern United States, does not have a common name. If you think you can pen a snazzy, memorable moniker for this perky dolichoderine, leave a comment over at their site. […]
The Party Ant
Our class would love to participate. We will begin our name search on Monday when we return to school.
The common heat tolerant ant
The tolerant ant (broad ecological, that is)
The ecologically amiable ant
The amiable ant
(The list could go on.)
What about Bompa Ants?
How about the Greedy Ant? Seems like they’ve got a few tricks to help ensure they keep all the goodies to themselves!
How about the “Greedy Ant”? Seems like they’ve got a few tricks to help them keep all the goodies for themselves!
teensy ant, feeble ant, mousy ant
Entomber Ant?
‘pruinosus’ means frosted. It likes sugar…you’re there already: Frostie Ant! Sponsored by Kelloggs?
Can we call the forelius pruinosus the Thants?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jtU9BbReQk
Sugie Boogie ant – Amanda, Edwin’s mom.
Ander ant – Edwin, age 4.
I like it!
I think she already named it well. I suggest the Plain-Jane Ant.
How about the vanilla ant. It’s sweet yet considered plain.
How about the Sugarstep Ant?
Refers to their love of dancing, their love of sweet stuff, and, well, the sweet smell you get when you step on one!
I’m thinking the ‘high-noon ant’ or ‘noon ant.’ I know that Forelius are very well adapted to heat (they’re often described in the literature as thermophilic, e.g. Ward 2005) and in summer in the Southwest, I’ve observed that they are typically the only ants actively foraging at noon when the sun is the highest. I also like the dusty western-town imagery of ‘high noon’; I picture two Forelius having a standoff as the vultures (antlions?) wheel overhead. To me, their thermophily is more distinctive than their sugar-eating (shared with most ants), adaptability (many generalist ants), scent (most dolichoderines), and even dancing (also seen in, e.g., Myrmecocystus) and tool use (cf. Dorymyrmex).
So long story short, I vote ‘high noon ant’ or the shorter ‘noon ant.’
“Eleanor’s rufous ant”
I second Twinbug’s ‘Sugarstep’ Ant! Great suggestion!
Brown Sugar Ant
How about “Forelius”? It was named after Auguste Forel (I am guessing), why not keep the patronymic of the famous myrmecologist. Does the name of the ant need to have the word “ant” in it? Nobody calls a starling a “starling bird” or a squirrel a “squirrel rodent.” If this sounds too radical, why not Forel’s ant?
Crafty dancing ant!
(Although I also like sugar-step, and ZEL the high-noon person makes a compelling case for hers/his)
Party pAnts.
Shirley Temple Ants…they are sweet and can dance!
Or Oompa Loompa Ant
Sweet Ant.
Like “Sweet Aunt” but sweeter, and antier.
or
“Sweetheart dancing ant”, because they dance, and if you smush them they smell sweet, and they love sweets.
Like “Sweetheart Dance”.
Mel.
The epithet “pruinosa” means “frosty”, according to my Latin dictionary. So how about the Frosted Ant?
The West Side Ant
the common sweet-toothed craftydancer
name for ant:
Waltzing Matilda
(after the Australian song)
name for ant:
Waltzing Matilda
(after the Australian folk song)
I think we can dispel the tradition of ___ ant and name it Be-Ant-cé in honour of Beyoncé Knowles. She is a stellar dancer, unbelievably determined to succeeded, and is great in any venue. Her last concert even had some football game lead into it. She is a queen of an empire so it seems like a fitting title for this widely successful ant.
I’d like to suggest “Highway Ants”, for their tendency to form thick, busy trails.
*Entomber Ant? Why: It seems relatively unique to the species (as opposed to the sweet-tooth common to ants) given that it blocks other ants nests for food. And it indicates/reveals something about the behavior (which is a good thing for a common name to do – that or their identifying physical features).
Tiger Ant
Lots of stripes, from antannea to abdomen
Sweet Tooth
This ant loves sweet things, just like us!
I think the name of the ant should be The Sweet Sweet because it has a sweet tooth and when you step on it it smells good.
I think that The Cavitizer Ant is a good name because it says it loves sweet treats and it sounds like it has lots of cavities so I named it the Cavitizer Ant.
The sweet sugar ant because when you squish it smells really, sweet like sugar.
food terminator because it eats a lot of food and it doesn’t miss any food.
i would name that species of ants The Dancing Honey Backpack Ant because no ant dances mostly
the ants fight and also the reason that it has the word Honey in the name is that the abdomen
looks like a bees back where it has black and yellow strips, also the article said it had a backpack like to put the sugar that it eats in that special place
The backpack ant because it looks like t has a backpack on its back.
I think the name should be sugar sugar ant because of their love of sugar. The name is a fun name. People will love it.
THE DANCING ANT
I think the common name for the F.Pruinosus ant should be the dancing ant because they dance instead of fighting.
From a first grade class:
Small Guy
Super Ant
Fun Eye Ant
Dance Ant
Dancer Ant
Funny Ant
Big Foot
Dance Dance Sugar Tooth
Shakey
Crafty
Fruit Bat
Spider Ant
Fancy Nancy
Sugar Tooth
Sniffy
This is from one of the second grade classes at our school: http://bit.ly/VBs0Zw
From some of our fourth graders:
“Dancing Sweet Tooth Ant. It’s a good name because of their craving for sweets and they dance for every part of their body and they do it for a reason.” –Maya
“name: Let’s Dance Ant. Because it dances to scary its enmey [enemy] away stomp your legs and shake your booties and it really scarys its enmey.” –Summer
“I think it should be the Danceing ant because it is interesting that they dance instead of fihiting [fighting].” –Claudia
The Brown Ant – Because it resembles a brown color and it is normal. Brown is the color for normal.
Backpack Ant
I think it should be called the backpack ant because Dr. Elmore said they look like they have a backpack to hold their food. (A spot on the back). The name sounds good.
The Sugar Ant
It should be called the sugar ant because it smells good when you squish it and it likes sweet stuff like sugar.
The Sugar Ant
I think the F. Pruinosus common name should be the Sugar ant becuase it has a sweet tooth for sugar.
I’ve had a lot of experience with this ant in southern (especially southwestern) USA, and a little in Mexico, where it is abundant. Noonday ant seems very appropriate, and has the advantage of easy rendering in Spanish, spoken over much of where this ant lives, namely hormiga mediodía, hormiguita mediodía.
Another possibility is to use a combination including one of English’s two other synonyms for ant, emmet or pismire. I love the sound of “the frosted emmet”.
Here are the suggestions from our class. http://bit.ly/URIL3n
Thanks!
“Sweet Forager Ant” because it forages for sweets and can help folks remember its scientific name Forelius Pruinosus.
Swayback Ant – for the conspicuous dip between thorax and abdomen giving the appearance of a swayback horse.
Tender Ant….works for the aphid milking and for the slow dances
Tiny Dancer
Tiny dANTser
Sugar Shaker
Sugar-a-go-go
“Perfume ant” (because I think they smell pretty good!)
Blockade ant fits since it blocks other nests up.
Amontillado ant (in reference to the Poe’s story)
… or Montresor ant, in the same sense.
i think it should be called the SuGaR aNt
Sugar Block Ant
It loves sugar, it smells sweet, and it blocks up enemy ant holes.
I think it should be “sir-lance o lot” or sugar baby
I think it should be called the black tailed ant or the wasp tailed ant. (it looks like there are little yellowish black ring between the black rings on it’s tail like a wasps)
Midway ant:
1) active at high noon, which is midway through the day
2) in search of sweet treats and a knapsack full of treasures to carry home, just like us humans on the midway of the state fair
I think it should be called Sticky Ant since it is very fond of sugar and sweet sap in trees. Or maybe the Caterpillar Ant since it is said to be having sticky situations with caterpillars.
Blocker Ants. For their tendency to block other ant species from foods.
I also like Hiker Ants. For their backpacks.
The corporate ant. They are greedy, they work together as a corporation, and they dance around a lot of issues.
IN LINE ant…..the ant that will wait and travel behind the one in front of it, 100’s and 100’s of ants long….just to get some food.
When I was 5 years old and lived in CO, I used to call them “Orange Food Sacks” or “Red Ants with Orange Food Sacks.” Referring to the bright orange abdomens.
That’d be a silly name I know, but I am so excited to have finally after years of searching found what those ants were! I spent hours on the ground watching them, catching them, finding their movements interesting. I don’t remember much of of their dance, only that I saw their their abdomens waving upward a lot.
Since I moved to the Midwest, I’ve never seen them anywhere. In southern WI, I’ve seen a similar species. I think orange meadow ant that also has an alarm scent – like lysol.