Ant Course Papua New Guinea 2023

Research Trip

I was fortunate enough to be accepted into the Ant Course, hosted by the California Academy of Sciences and Ants of the World Project, In 2023. The course was stationed in Papua New Guinea and took place at the Binatang Research Center (BRC) in Madang, PNG.  The course covered a variety of topics including ant diversity, morphology, ecology, and biology, but it mainly focused on taxonomy.  Each one of the students gave a short presentation on their research and I presented on the Kentucky Ant Project. 

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During the course, we collected thousands of ants, created a sample collection, and were evaluated on our basic myrmecology skills such as point mounting, generic identification, labeling accuracy, and species identification. We learned how to keep proper track of our specimens and how to go from a field notebook to a label. These skills, especially proper note-taking and labeling methods, were vigorously developed and applied to my current workflow.