Ant's friends

Image source: antwiki

Ants have clear division of labor, unity and cooperation, and strong fighting power. They are the insect world that cannot be provoked. Naturally, many small insects try their best to get the protection of ants or even the shelter of ant nests. As a result, ants have also made many good friends!

Do you know who are the best friends of ants? Which ones are friendly and harmonious, and which ones have ulterior motives?

Hemiptera:

aphid

Image source: antwiki

We all know that ants herd aphids, acting as "milkers" to cause them to excrete a sugary substance. The ants stroke the aphids with their antennae, stimulating them to release honeydew.

Image source: antwiki

Ants herd aphids to keep them safe, and if predatory insects or parasites try to harm the aphids, the ants will aggressively defend them, and some ants will even destroy the eggs of aphid predators (such as ladybugs).

Image source: antwiki

In addition, the ants will also do their duty to ensure that the aphids have an adequate food source.

The corn root aphid, Protaphis middletonii, prefers to feed on the roots of corn plants. At the end of the growing season, aphids lay their eggs in the soil where corn plants are dying. Ants in corn fields collect the eggs and store them for the winter. They then carry the newly hatched aphids to the field and deposit them on a temporary host weed (Polygonum) so they can begin feeding. Once the corn plants begin to grow, the ants transfer their honeydew-producing partners to their preferred host plant, corn.

Image source: bugguide.net

Corn root aphid Protaphis middletonii

Scale insects

Image source: researchgate

In addition to aphids, there are many other insects that secrete honeydew and are consumed by ants, such as scale insects.

Image source: antwiki

However, the result of this encounter between these two good friends is often unpleasant. In recent years, there has been a large outbreak of fine-legged ants on Christmas Island in Australia. The cause is the arrival of yellow scale insects from South Asia. These scale insects provide a stable source of carbohydrate resources (honeydew) for the fine-legged ants.

Image source: www.piat.org.nz

Anoplolepis gracilipes and Tachardina aurantiaca

The study showed that if the ants were prevented from entering the tree canopy where the yellow gum scale lived to prevent them from harvesting honeydew, the number of ants dropped by 80% in just a few weeks compared to control areas where they could collect honeydew freely.

However, if the slender-legged ants in the monitored area were removed with pesticides, all the yellow scale insects in the area where the ants were removed would die within 12 months.

Image source: wikipedia

Eucalyptus felt scale Eriococcus coriaceus living in symbiosis with ants

It can be seen that ants and scale insects, this pair of good friends, have brought each other a better life, which explains why ants are often present in areas where scale insects live.

Treehopper

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The ants also develop a close relationship with the treehoppers by collecting the honeydew they secrete. Treehoppers communicate through vibrations, and each species has a different vibration pattern that can travel through branches and up to a meter away, which is how they communicate with other members of the same species and even ants.

Image source: www.si.edu

If they encounter a predator, they will vibrate collectively and call for help from the ants, "Hey! There are predators around!"

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The tree cicada not only benefits from the ant's mutual benefit, but also imitates its good friend. Cyphonia clavata is a famous tree cicada that looks like three connected balls sticking out directly from its pronotum. The purpose of this is to simulate the attack posture of ants to scare away predators.

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In fact, in addition to aphids, scale insects, and tree cicadas, the Hemiptera species of wax cicadas, foam cicadas, whiteflies, psyllids, and some stink bugs have also established a close feeding symbiotic relationship with ants.

Lepidoptera:

Lycaenidae

Image source: news.ncbs.res.in

Some gray butterfly larvae and ants have a nutritional symbiotic relationship. The larvae have special nectar glands (ant-loving organs) that can secrete a mixture of amino acids with a sweet smell that is very attractive to ants. The gray butterfly larvae exchange nectar for the protection of ants, which is a win-win situation for both parties.

Image source: twitter

For example, the larvae of the Zigzag butterfly mainly harm cycads and rely on secreting sugary rewards to attract ants and receive care from ants.

Image source: See the watermark of the larva of Chilades pandava

Not only that, some butterfly larvae secrete pheromones similar to those of ant larvae. When ants pass by and find that the baby larvae are left outside, they will immediately bring them back to the nest. For example, some larvae of the genus Lycaenidae.

Image source: www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Take me home now

Coleoptera:

Rove beetle

Image source: www.eurekalert.org

However, some good friends like to stab you in the back, for example, members of the genus Pella of the subfamily Pederinae. They mainly live by sharing their host's prey or preying on sick and weak ants. When they encounter host ants, they will be attacked by worker ants. They rely on quick movement or defensive measures to protect themselves.

Maoershan Ant Pella maoershanensis (arrowhead)

There are more clever rove beetles that deceive their hosts by releasing chemical pheromones with attractive properties. They invade ant nests to lay eggs, which hatch in the nests. In addition to taking food from the ants' mouths, the hatched larvae grow by eating ant larvae.

Image source: blog.livedoor.jp Getting food from host ants

Members of the genus Lomechusa can secrete substances that confuse and soothe ants, not only making their hosts mistakenly think they are their companions, but also making them very fascinated.

Image source: blog.livedoor.jp

Lomechusa sinuata

Ant

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As their name suggests, ant beetles also have a close relationship with ants. Some groups of them live in ant nests and have evolved the ability to produce ant pheromones, which allow them to freely control the ants' territory, including entering ant nests and feasting on ant larvae there without hesitation.

Image source: www.vice.com

Some ant beetles are even fed mouth-to-mouth fluids by worker ants in the colony and transported by the workers to a "nursery" in the nest, where they feed on the cuticular secretions of ant eggs and larvae.

Image source: twitter

Diptera:

Nest fly

Image source: bugguide.net

The nest aphid fly also lives in ant nests and depends on ants for survival. Its larvae are hemispherical and shell-shaped, like a turtle shell, and also like a cool armored vehicle in the ant nest.

Image source: twitter@Nick Porch

They have different feeding behaviors: some species feed on detritus in the nest; some feed on young and dying ant larvae; and some feed on both ant larvae and ant pupae.

Image source: www.myrmecos.net

The reason why they can move unhindered in the ant nest is that the strange appearance of the aphid fly larvae in the nest is modeled after the ant pupae, which first deceives the opponent visually; secondly, this sturdy "armored" shape is itself a good defense.

Image source: See watermark

Moreover, the larvae of nest aphid flies have the same pheromones as their ant hosts, telling the other party "we are family, don't be violent."

Image source: twitter@Nick Porch

Blattodea:

Cockroach

Image source: © Insects Unlocked

You might not think that some small cockroaches are closely related to ants.

For example, the fungus-dwelling ant Attaphila fungicola lives in the nests of leaf-cutter ants. They are very small, only about 3 mm in size, and feed on the cuticular lipids of leaf-cutter ants or "planted" fungi.

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Attaphila fungicola

Because they can simulate the smell of ants, they can live safely in the nest without being attacked by ants. In addition, fungus-dwelling ant nest cockroaches are very good at "hitchhiking". They will choose young female ants as "transportation tools" and ride on their backs when they are on mating flights, forming partners, and looking for new nests.

Image source: See watermark

Orthoptera:

Ant Cricket

Image source: twitter

Ant crickets usually live in symbiosis with ants and in ant nests.

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Ant-crickets can release odor information that tricks ants into thinking they are of the same species, and they can also mimic ants' behavior to trick ants into returning food to them.

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What other “good friends” of ants do you know?

Leave a message to tell the editor!

References:

https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Honeydew_Gatherers

https://www.thoughtco.com/aphid-herding-ants-1968237

https://www.si.edu/stories/beautiful-and-bizarre-treehopper

Sciencenet - Those Hemiptera insects that have close contact with ants - Xie Qiang's blog (sciencenet.cn)

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Editor of this issue: Kongfeng Xiaoxian

Journal of Plant Protection

Source: Rendaishouhu