One of the great things about grubbing around in the litter of a tropical forest are all the odd ways, one finds, that creatures make a living. Taking the lemons (in a world that is, literally, rotting all around you) and making lemonade.
This is Basiceros manni (larger photo here), a slow moving predator that lives in tiny colonies of about 20 or so, nesting in soggy twigs and bits of rotten wood. Although it will eat a variety of insects in the lab, in the field it’s developed quite a taste for snails. Which suits its general habit quite nicely, as this thing pokes along at a snails pace and, if disturbed will curl up into a ball, armadillo like. A very crusty armadillo.
You see, Basiceros‘s is covered with long modified spoon shaped hairs (see below) that, are great at gathering dirt, and up-close hairs resembling a frazzled feather that are dandy at holding the dirt close to the body. As a consequence, a nice young female leaving the nest (remember, ants are female collectives that only produce males for the sperm) will, over time, grow to resemble a clod of dirt (albeit one a fairly charming one).
We used to think Basiceros was rare. Now we know to be patient, look carefully, and wait for the aroma of escargot.
Posted by pheidole 
I was at a meeting last summer and ran into one of my students flush with victory at having caught up with one of the Greats, a verifiable National Academy of Sciences, Pulitizer Prize Winner, gold-standard biologist. After describing the discussion, pretty much verbatim he paused, noting that “Dr. XXXX shook my hand, then immediately cleaned his with a sanitary wipe.”
Survive and Thrive in Grad School 
