Reddit reviews For Love of Insects

For love of insects by Thomas Eisner is incredible, really interesting stories, beautiful photos and really good science

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Insects-Thomas-Eisner/dp/0674018273/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382145973&sr=1-1&keywords=for+love+of+insects

Yea... that's why I used the term "displace". Even really small ants like monomorium minimum displace other large insects chemically. They don't hunt the bugs that tend to flee their presence, it's that they present a hazard like a huge pack of small dogs.

When I kept ants I had bizarre first hand experience with chemical displacement. I had a few nests...two were formica pallidefulva and monomorium minimum. By volume the MMs were about 1% the size of the FPs.

So one day I woke up and checked in on my ants and the FP were dying. They were huddled in small groups...some were dead others were sluggish or have "seizures" (all shaky wobbly).

And I noticed the MMs were all over in their nest. The MMs had found a way out of the setup and into the FPs. There was no direct violence or attacks happening...and the MMs weren't eating them. The MMs just wanted the space and their mere presence began to kill the FPs. It was quite a sight...

An awesome book on insect chemical defenses and also on setting up easy experiments to study insects in your yard is..."For the Love of Insects" I learned so much from that book.