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About The Field Guide
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A Field Guide to the Ants of New England is the first user-friendly regional guide devoted to ants—the “little things that run the world.” Lavishly illustrated with more than 500 line drawings, 300-plus photographs, and regional distribution maps as composite illustrations for every species, the Field Guide introduces amateur and professional naturalists and biologists, teachers and students, and environmental managers and pest-control professionals to the more than 140 ant species found in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.
The Field Guide’s three different kinds of identification keys—graphical, illustrated matrix, and traditional dichotomous—along with detailed species descriptions, line drawings, and high-magnification photographs, will allow anyone to identify and learn about ants and their diversity, ecology, life histories, and beauty. The Field Guide also includes sections on collecting ants, ant ecology and evolution, natural history, and patterns of geographic distribution and diversity to help readers gain a greater understanding and appreciation of ants.
- New names for old ants: taxonomic and nomenclatural changes since The Field Guide was published in 2012.
- Corrections and errata: download a pdf of pages marked-up with suggested changes
- Maps and data (via the Environmental Data Initiative)
- Get involved! Look for ants and add to what we know about the distribution and abundance of ants in New England.
Awards for The Field Guide
- May 2013: USA Book News awards The Field Guide the 2013 International Book Award in General Science [ press release ]
- April 2013: The New England Society in New York City awards The Field Guide the 2013 award for Specialty Title in Science and Nature [ press release | announcement in The New York Times Book Review ]
Quotable Praise for The Field Guide
- This ground-breaking field guide not only contributes to our basic knowledge of ants, but places the ants of New England within reach of those interested in the natural history of the region.—Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
- This goes beyond any ant book that has come before it and puts it in line with the popular and best bird books on the market….readable and easy to use by non-experts.—Sean Menke, Lake Forest College
- …a great combination of natural history, a little anecdote, and gorgeous inspired figures.—Michael Kaspari, University of Oklahoma
- …[Will] appeal to [anyone] interested in insects or natural history in general, as well as those who are truly ant enthusiasts.—Jane O’Donnell, University of Connecticut
- This…is phenomenal! …a fantastic job [and] will be very usable for all students. …I love the natural history and details about all the ants- especially the names! The matrix keys are GREAT and really helpful.—Katherine Bennett, 5th grade teacher, John R. Briggs School, Ashburnham, Massachusetts
- The book is wonderful. I never have seen a book with so much information together about biology, ecology, morphology, taxonomy, keys to speciesand pictures. All myrmecologists will want a copy.—Rogério R. Silva, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
- What a gorgeous field guide! Congratulations on such a comprehensive and USEFUL resource. —Joan Herbers, Ohio State University
- The descriptions for the various Formica species groups are the best I’ve seen, and the drawings throughout are absolutely excellent. —Adam Clark, University of Graz
- Your field guide is a really fascinating and interesting book. I like the matrix keys, at the beginning of the book and look forward to testing them with specimens. The combination of drawings and photographs provides a useful tool. —Claude Pilon, Entomofaune du Québec
- What a wonderful addition to the entomological world! There are so many features that make it exceptional: The keys by size on the front flyleaf, the basics of ant anatomy on the back, the arrows on the diagrams, distribution maps, interesting notes on species, the background material and biography. Delightful!.—Charlene Donahue, Maine Entomological Society
- [The Field guide is] a gateway drug (to more advanced books on ants, including Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration by Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson). —Bruce Fellman, in the Naturalist’s Journal, Southern Rhode Island Newspapers.
- A Field Guide to the Ants of New England appears to be destined to be known, at least in myrmecological circles, as the ‘New England Bible.’ —James Traniello, in The Quarterly Review of Biology.
Discussion: reviews, blogs, audio, video
Book reviews
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- Publisher’s Weekly (27 August 2012) [ pdf ]
- “Noteworthy Books” of the Northeastern Naturalist (Fall 2012)
- In the Naturalist’s Journal column of the Southern Rhode Island Newspapers (30 November 2012; appeared in Narragansett Times, North Kingstown Standard-Times, Chariho Times, Covernty Courier, and East Greenwich Pendulum) [ pdf ]
- Riutta, J. 2012. The Well-read Naturalist. December 2012 [ pdf | html direct from The Well-read Naturalist ]
- King, J. R. and J. C. Trager. 2013. Myrmecological News 18: 59-60. [ pdf ]
- Lubertazzi, D. 2013. Rhode Island Natural History Survey, posted January 29, 2013 [ html direct from RINHS ]
- Waltermire, J. 2013. Northern Woodlands 20(1): 68. [ pdf ]
- Anonymous. 2013. Off the Shelf. Harvard Magazine March-April 2013: 16 [ pdf | html direct from Harvard Magazine ]
- Anonymous. 2013. The Green (Quote unquote). Vermont Quarterly Spring 2013: 12 [ pdf ]
- Anonymous. 2013. Spotlight Books, Ecology 94 (3): 770 [ external link ]
- Brass, D. A. 2013. Review in Choice Review [ pdf ]
- Anonymous. 2013. Review in Wings, Fall 2013 [ pdf ]
- Traniello, J. F. A. 2013. Review in Quarterly Review of Biology 88: 360 [ pdf ]
On the blogs and in the clouds
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- Still available online
- GrrlScientist in The Guardian (U.K.) (21 October 2012)
- Roberta Gibson highlights the Field Guide on Wild About Ants (17 November 2012)
- Listed in the Yale Alumni Magazine’s Output column, September/October 2012 [ link ]
- Press release from the Harvard Forest, 31 October 2012 [ link ]
- Carolyn Johnson writes about the Field Guide in the Boston Globe’s Science in Mind blog (26 November 2012) [ link ]
- Greg Cook does a Q&A with lead author Aaron Ellison for WBUR‘s News blog [ link ]
- Joshua Brown writes about Inside Ant Nation for the University of Vermont‘s UVM Today [ link ]
- Patrick Kurp notes the Field Guide in Anecdotal Evidence, May 2, 2013) [ external link ]
- Mark LaFlamme writes about the ants of Maine in the bPlus section of the Central and Western Maine Sun Journal (27 April 2014) [ link to online version | pdf (local) ]
- Bob Keyes shouts out the Field Guide in a sidebar to an article in the Portland Press Herald (Maine) on the ongoing AntGirls exhibition in Lewiston, Maine [ link to online version | pdf (local) ]
- Lost links
- Alex Wild shouted out the Field Guide on Myrmecos (October 2012)
- In the Gardening blog of boston.com (20 October 2012)
- Justine Paradis interviews Aaron Ellison about ants on Nantucket’s True Island Radio, 97.7 FM (November 2013)
- Still available online
Over the airwaves
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- Aaron Ellison talks about ants with WBUR‘s Meghna Chakrabarti on Radio Boston, March 20, 2013 [ listen (dead link) | written up by Ream Design (pdf) ]
- Nick Gotelli and Aaron Ellison talk about ants with Vermont Public Radio‘s Jane Lindholm on Vermont Edition, February 28, 2013 [ listen ]
- Aaron Ellison talks about ants with Mark Moffett, and Gale Ridge on Connecticut Public Radio‘s Colin McEnroe Show, September 12, 2012, 1:00pm [ listen (dead link) ]
On the silver screen
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- Aaron Ellison talks about how forest ants will respond to climatic change [ watch on the Harvard Forest web site | watch on YouTube ]
- Nick Gotelli and Aaron Ellison talk about experiments on forest ants and climatic change in Emerging Science on Vermont Public Television [ watch on the VPTV website (dead link) ]
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