American Ant Keeping Hall of Fame
By William T. 8/11/2015
Even though our hobby is relatively new, we still have a lot of breakthroughs to make life easier for us all, in the U.S. People churn out new designs and ideas designed to make life easier for us all. They may be the first of their kind or create something inspiring. They inspire us through their achievements and ideas. They really need to be recognized. They have really impacted the hobby we have today, and the way we look at ants, here in the U.S. So here is who I got. Mostly people from the past, but feel free to suggest new people to the list.
(Not an any order)
Entrepreneurs
While some of these people just are into the ant keeping hobby just for the money, there is without doubt that businessmen are the pioneers of ant keeping, achieving more in the long run than any other group to introduce ant keeping into the US. While some of their products seem rudimentary to us, others making lasting and advanced designs for the hobby to use.
Milton Levine (aka. Uncle Milton) (November 3, 1913 – January 16, 2011)
This man is the pioneer of anting. His classic "ant farm" spurred the interests of millions around the world, and is still made today. Even though his consisted of only harvester ant workers, nevertheless, many of us were introduced to this hobby from our experiences at the dime store as a child. His products gave interest to our hobby, and we still have many people keeping ants in his nests. His "giant ant farm" still remains a cheap way of keeping certain ant species and colonies, being less than $20 even today. Being the cofounder of Uncle Milton Toys, his most famous product out of all the novelties he produced is the ant farm.
Frank E. Austin (1895-1940)
As the first person to market formicariums and ant keeping commercially, Frank Austin's Ant House, while never reaching the same heights as Milton Levine's Ant Farm, still was a ground breaker. At the peak of their production in the mid-1930s as many as 400 ant houses were said to have been shipped out of Hanover in one day. The house consisted of two pieces of glass about 8 1/2 x 10 l/2 inches set into a wooden frame about 1 1/4 inches deep, filled with soil from half to three quarters the height of the glass. Some of the fancier formicariums had villages or gardens painted on the glass or wooden palaces above the soil with passageways and turrets for the ants to crawl about. Below "ground level" the tunneling was exposed to view. In 1937 Professor Austin paid $4.00 a quart for ants to boys. Carpenter ants were his preference as they were the largest and most interesting, and he would include 150 ants per house.
Mikey Bustos ("AntsCanada") (birthdate unknown)
As the propietor of AntsCanada, Bustos' AntsCanada Youtube channel is one of the reasons our hobby in the US has been growing today. Introudcing many people to the hobby, they provide a reliable source of information not only about ant husbandry, but about other things a potiential ant keeping may need, such as convincing parent about the idea of ant keeping. Bustos has been diligent intially about answering questions about the hobby, and has contributed guides and other sources of information to make the hobby in the US what it is today. His lines of formicariums, the Omni Nests and Hybrid Nests, provide a source of housing for ants that are genus specific, something that has never been very mainstream in the hobby in the US. His GAN farmer project, praised by Naturalist Alex Wild, have been a sources of queen ants and colonies in cities around the world for ant keepings with little success in starting their own colony. Without Bustos, the hobby in the US would not be the same as it is today.
Mack Pridgen ("Tar Heel Ants""Mack""THA") (birth year unknown)
The proprietor and founder of the North Carolina based Tar Heel Ants, his ant merchandise store, one of the biggest in the USA, sells formicariums and other ant keeping supplies. His formicariums are the only well known source of YTONG nests in the US, and is said to provide prime housing for Myrmecocystus, Camponotus, Formica, and other ants that appreciate a rough and absorbable surface, unlike that of glass of plastic. The starter of the Ants are Pets Facebook page as well as the THA ant forum, and other social media pages, Pridgen introduced ant keeping to many potential hobbyists, and he constanly churns out content on many aspects of ant husbandry on this blog.
Naturalists
These scientists have helped our hobby turn in to what it is now. Without their writings on ant natural history and ant Identification, this hobby would have certainly not have been where it is now.
E. O Wilson (born. 1929)
The famous biologist started off anting after a surgery with cataracts in his left eye, leaving him with a vision of 20/10. This allowed him to see the fine hairs and details on ants that other children did not. He than to notice things others did not, and took long hours to study colony behavior. After he lost his stereoscopy, he then began to focus purely on insects, for he could see the minute hairs of a Camponotus but not too clearly a person standing next to him. With the encouragement of Marion R. Smith, a myrmecologist from Washington, Wilson began a survey of all the ant species in Alabama, which led him to discover the first colony of S. Invicta in the US. After earning his PH.D of biology from Harvard, Wilson began to publish his groundbreaking writings on ant social behavior, including his award winning finds with B. Hollobler on leaf cutters of the genus Atta. Eventually winning the Pulitzer prize, Wilson now teaches at Harvard University.
Dr. James Trager (birth year unknown)
While several myrmecologists have made great contributions to ant taxidermy, none have been like Dr. Trager, frequenting ant hobbyist boards to inform ant keepers on the natural history and identification of their ant colonies. Dr. Trager works as a biologistt for the Shaw Nature Reserve of the Missouri Botanical Garden in Gray Summit, Missouri, and works in habitat restoration and recovery. Being an active myrmecologist, Dr. Trager isalso an active ant taxonomist and has published notable revisions of such groups as Solenopsis, Dorymyrmex, Nylanderia, Formica (pallidefulva group), and Polyergus. Without doubt, our understanding of ant taxidermy and life cycle as ant keeping hobbyists in the US would have been extremely limited without the help of Dr. Trager. His works include but are not limited to:
Trager, J. C. 1984. A new Paratrechina (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Machu Picchu, Peru. Florida Entomologist 66: 482-486. pdf
Trager, J. C. 1984. A revision of the genus Paratrechina of the continental United States. Sociobiology 9: 51-162. pdf
Trager, J. C. 1988. A revision of Conomyrma from the southeastern United States, especially Florida, with keys to the species. Florida Entomologist 71: 11-29. pdf
Trager, J. C. 1988. Geroge C. Wheeler – an Appreciation in Trager, J. C (editor). Advances in myrmecology. E. J. Brill, New York. 551 pp. pdf
Roy Snelling (September 30, 1934, - April 21, 2008)(Suggestion of "Gregory 2455")
One of the foremost member in modern myrmecology, Dr. Snelling has been not only predominant in myrmecology but is a significant figure in the taxidermy of bees and wasps. His writings of honeypot ants, Myrmecocystus, are a staple, as are much of the rest of his writings, especially that on numerous groups of carpenter ants, and the entire Chilean familyof ants. Snelling was the emeritus collections manager at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County where he worked for more than 30 years, joining the museum in 1963 and retiring in 1993. Naming many species, Snelling amassed a large collection of species used in his works. Here is the site on Myrmecos.com in his memory.
https://myrmecos.wor...f-roy-snelling/
Walter R. Tschinkel ( born September 15, 1940)(Suggestion of "drtrmiller")
An International known myrmecologist, Dr. Tschinkel's writings on ant behavior are staple in the study of ants. His best known works include the well received The Fire Ants, nominated for Pulitzer Prize, as well as the the natural histories of Pogonomyrmex and Formica sp. During his 43 years at Florida State University, he developed and taught numerous university courses including Animal Behavior, Animal Diversity and Insect Biology. He also served as a major professor and mentor to 22 Masters and PhD students, and more than 70 undergraduate researchers. Without his writings and ideas, the natural histories of several important species, such as those in the genus Solenopis, would not be know of extremely unclear.
William M. Wheeler (March 19, 1865 – April 19, 1937)
Instrumental in the identification and natural history of ants and other social insects, Wheeler started off his fascination of insects by working with Ward's Natural Science Establishment, where he identified birds and mammals, and collections of shells, echinoderms and sponges. His shell catalog was still in use by collectors in the late 1920s. He then went on to study on with Braur, Whitman and Dohrn, collecting and classifying numerous species of ants and other social insects, among them include Pogonomyrmex maricopa, which releases the most potent insect venom. He received the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences, along with other numerous awards. His work includes 467 titles.
Mark W. Moffett (born January 7, 1958)
As a myrmecologist that is seen on television, magazines, and entomology books aimed for children, Moffett has introduced myrmecology to the ordinary person. One of only a handful of people to earn a Ph.D. under the world’s most respected ecologist, E.O. Wilson, Mark Moffett has written or photographed more than two dozen articles for National Geographic. In May 2010, Moffett released his most famous book, Adventures Among Ants. Although his family was not academic, encouraged by his parents he sought out biologists by the age of 12. Moffett has classified many ant species, and his work has incited ant fascination for the younger generation.
William S. Creighton (1902-1973)(Suggestion of "Teleutoje")
A myrmecologist in the US and a mentor of E.O Wilson, Creighton disagreed with the form of classification used by William Wheeler at the Bussey Institute at Harvard, who was his mentor. As "Creighton inherited the problem of an unwieldy system that made the field of ant systematics practically unusable," he created his own system. Despite being close to a massive collection of specimens at Harvard, Creighton preferred to do field studies, bring himself closer to nature, allowing him to have a better insight on ant behavior than some of his colleagues. Although E.O Wilson and William Brown, two of his students, challenged his system, "Creighton, however, using field work as the bedrock of his classification system, eventually prevailed over those who based their system on museum types." More on his life here: http://www.jstor.org...an_tab_contents. Thanks to "Teletotje" for the suggestion.
Hobbyists
Hobbyists are the people of this hobby. They create new ideas, enforce older ones, and experiment and record.
Andrew Smith ("Drew" "Dspdrew") (birth year unknown)
The founder of Formiculture, Smith's ideas about formicarium design, his writings about the location and natural history of California ant species, and his techniques on ant keeping have forever changed our hobby. As Formiculture is rising in predominance, Smith tirelessly answer questions on ant keeping and ant biology, as well as moderate and fund the forum with his own pocket, creating a clean and unbiased atmosphere for all. His journals and other writings provide a valuable insight on the rarely study ants of the southwest, and he puts rare and hard-to-find species in the reach of a common person, and he welcomes new members in his forum with open arms, without fees or advertisements. His records provide insight on the locations of ant species, for both hobbyist and possible researchers to use, and his guides have put factual information in the hands of the beginning ant keeper. Bring both ants and his writings in the hands of hobbyists, there is no doubt that Smith is one of the most predominant hobbyists of all time in the US.
Crystal S. (born 1988)
One of the most well known and respected people of the US ant keeping community, there is without doubt that Crystal S. has influenced the hobby in the US and Canada. As the writer of several well received ant husbandry guides, Crystal's tireless efforts in answering the questions of new ant keepers has expanded our knowledge. As she constantly makes new ant keeping guides and answers questions by aspiring hobbyists or those that are struggling with their ant colonies, people who want to identify their queen ants, and those that are interesting in making their own formicariums, she is expanding the hobby. Whether on Formiculture.com or the Ant Farm and Myrmecology Forum at Yuku.com, without doubt, Crystal S. is a major player in the ant keeping community of the US and Canada.
"Antdude" (birth year unknown)
The founder and owner of the Ant Farm and Myrmecology Forum, the American based ant forum even before the days of Formiculture.com, the person known as "Antdude" has been one of the biggest reasons for the advancement of more serious ant keeping in North America. Since the hobby of ant keeping is very different in North America, with many laws restricting the selling of queens and their movement across state lines, the ant keeping community in the US grew higher and was more organized with a forum to support it and it's members. It linked hobbyists with other hobbyist willing to share ideas and thoughts about ant keeping, and several helpful, nice and friendly myrmecologists willing to spend their time helping with the natural history and Identification of ants, thus growing a once obscure hobby and giving it predominance. Despite being known to sometimes police grammar, "Antdude" the first created of an ant keeping forum in the U.S and united hobbyists. Without the Ant Farm and Myrmecology Forum on Yuku.com, our ant keeping hobby in the United States would have certainly not been the same.
Anthony Camouse ("Antimidation") (birth year unknown)(Suggestion of Andrew Smith)
The man known as "Antimidation" on Youtube has inspired Drew about the ant keeping hobby, and numerous others with his videos. His channel is located here https://www.youtube....er/Antimidation. His videos offer a valuable insight on Southern Californian at species, and some go more in depth than those offered on the AntsCanada ant Channel, offer tips and tricks on useful things such as termite culturing in test tube setups, and videos on digging founding queens out of their chambers. He also documents his anting trips in SoCal, making them a valuable reference for new ant keepers. His videos are highly rated by users, but unfortunately, Antimidation is not very active any more.
Edited by William. T, September 14 2015 - 9:58 AM.
