An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

BELT, Thomas

1 entries
  • 7443

The naturalist in Nicaragua: A narrative of a residence at the gold mines of Chontales; journeys in the savannahs and forests, with observations on animals and plants in reference to the theory of evolution of living forms.

London: John Murray, 1874.

In this book Belt first described "the mutualistic relationship of certain Acacias and the ant we now know as Pseudomyrmex spinicola. These are a species of red myrmecophyte-inhabiting neotropical ants which are found only in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They live in the thorns of a tropical tree, Acacia collinsii, feeding on nectaries along with the protein and lipid-rich pods produced by the plant for the ants and now known as Belsian bodies (or Beltian bodies) in honor of Belt" (Wikipedia article on Thomas Belt, accessed 07-31-2016).

Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.



Subjects: BOTANY, COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Nicaragua, EVOLUTION, VOYAGES & Travels by Physicians, Surgeons & Scientists, ZOOLOGY › Arthropoda › Entomology