Dear myrmecologists,
I’m Rohini Singh, a 5th year Ph.D. student working in Tim Linksvayer’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania. I have been investigating the effects of infection by the endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia on Monomorium pharaonis colonies (for more information, please see a recent biorxiv preprint; doi.org/10.1101/574921).
I would like to further assess the prevalence of Wolbachia infection in Monomorium pharaonis samples collected around the world, and also in as many additional Monomorium species as possible.
We would greatly appreciate if you could send us samples of workers from Monomorium pharaonis, or other Monomorium species. We are especially interested in Monomorium species related to M. pharaonis, but ultimately are interested in all Monomorium species.
Please send us samples in 95% ethanol to the address below. We would prefer 25-40 workers per colony, but we are also very interested in smaller samples if only a few workers are available. Recently collected material would be ideal, but we are also interested in older material.
Please send us as much and as detailed collection information as possible, such as, collection date, site, and habitat, collector name, species identity (if known) and any other collection notes.
Shipping Address
Rohini Singh
Department of Biology, Leidy 325
University of Pennsylvania
433 South University Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6018
We are happy to answer any questions.
Thank you very much in advance!
Sincerely,
Rohini Singh