Featured Myrmecologist: Dr. Kaitlin M. Baudier

Today we’re featuring Kaitlin M. Baudier, PhD who is currently a post doc in the Social Insect Research Group at Arizona State University.

Dr. Baudier is the creative force behind the AntGirl YouTube Channel. Check it out, particularly the ant playlist.

To give you an idea of her content, here’s her video of a Pogonomyrmex barbatus mating swarm.

Isn’t that incredible? Being close to a social insect swarm is an amazing experience. I hope to see a full blown harvester ant mating swarm like this one some day.

What else does she work on?

Besides social insect swarm aggression research, she also studies tropical ecology and animal behavior. She has some great videos of tropical species, like the ants versus stingless bees.

Ever seen those odd tubercles on ponerine larvae?  (If not, the Mississippi Entomological Museum has a close up of an Ponera pensylvanica larva here.) Dr. Baudier is also interested in studying their evolution throughout the subfamily ‎Ponerinae. Take a look at her poster about “sticky fingers.”

If you’d like to learn more, visit her website.

Did I mention she’s also an artist?

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