#myrmecophily

[crevicedwelling]

ants were farming other animals long before humans figured it out! here is a Cautolasius herdswoman with her livestock

many subterranean Lasius species cultivate flocks of plump root aphids, guarding them against predators and moving them to safe locations and fresh pastures. they “milk” the aphids for honeydew, a sugary waste product of the aphids’ digestion. I’ve read the ants will only kill and eat their livestock in times of famine.

when I flipped their rock, this ant grabbed the nearest aphid and ran it to safety. she’s another species of Lasius, this one in the subgenus Chthonolasius; I can’t tell if her colony’s aphids are different from the Cautolasius’ though.

[selezione-innaturale]

Have you seen the zefrank episode about myrmecophily? The rove beetles I’m familiar with. But ant abdomen mimicking beetles? That’s wild.

i haven’t. to be honest i almost never go on youtube, but i’m glad that there’s educational channels out there talking about cool beasts. BUT yeah myrmecophiles are cool as hell. i strongly recommend you check out antwiki’s list of myrmecophiles for more examples. 

however, these kinds of behaviors aren’t unique to ants; termitophily is also a thing. for example this tiny flightless scarab that lives in termite nests and evolved a special nub that allows the termites to carry it around like one of their larvae:

(source)

[lotitheism]

Staphylinidae - the rove beetle - and their myrmecophily. performance of costumes and perfume, stage set- into the colonies of ants they go!

Or, rather; @somerandomdudelmao's most recent marble sky part is on my mind.

[jokerislandgirl32]

For the butterfly thing:

Paisley? I feel like she’d be a moth but

Oh yes, of course! Thank you so much for requesting her! She’s the first leading lady requested for the WK Butterfly Assignments!

I kind of agree with you, I think a moth suits her personality better, but I did find one little gray butterfly, like the ONLY gray butterfly, that I think works for her! So for Ms. Paisley Paver, we have the….

Gray Hairstreak (also called bean lycaenid or cotton square borer) or  (Strymon melinus)!

Some cool facts about this amazing little creature below the cut!

1)The Gray Hairstreak is small, just like Paisley herself (which is one thing we all love about her right? She’s a sassy, strong, little bean!) This butterfly’s wing span is only about one and a quarter inches at most, or around 20–32 millimeters!

2)The Gray Hairstreak’s physical features are quite unique. The butterfly earns its name from its unusual gray hued color and it’s wing extensions that resemble strands of hair. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, it is the only gray butterfly I found in my research! Making it one of a kind like our gray loving Paisley.

3) In their caterpillar form, this butterfly participates in Myrmecophily, which means they they develop a mutual relationship with ants. The ants protect the Gray Hairstreaks in exchange for a sweet liquid emitted by the caterpillars’ “honey gland.”

These caterpillars also are known to communicate with ants through sounds, leading them be called singing caterpillars. The sounds are another component to the ants protection of the caterpillars. So, like Paisley with Rex and her pavers, they are a butterfly that has much help and assistance.

If anyone would like to request any other characters feel free too, see the master list in the post linked above!

[whitewatermedia]

Tussock Moth Caterpillar Many species of mammals, including squirrels and deer, feed on stump moth caterpillars. Parasitic Braconid wasps, like the Cotesia melanoscela and Apanteles melanoscelus, lay their eggs on the tussock moth caterpillars, and when the wasp larvae hatch, they feed on the inside of the caterpillars, eventually killing them. The ants provide a distraction allowing the caterpillars to escape detection, generally from bigger, meaner ants. In exchange, the protector ants receive the sugars and amino acids secreted by the caterpillar’s dorsal nectary organ, a mutualistic relationship known as myrmecophily. (a-z-animals.com)

[drygt88]

Federico Delpino (1833-1905), Napoli Botanik Bahçesi küratörü, olağanüstü bir bilim insanıydı. Darwin ile yazışması sırasında, bitkilerin zekasına ikna olmuştu ve kendisini onların yetenekleri üzerine çalışarak saha deneylerine adamış, zamanının çoğunu bazı bitkilerin karıncalar ile kurduğu, mirmekofili denilen (kelime, yunanca myrmex, "karınca" ve philos "arkadaş"tan gelir) simbiyozise yoğunlaşmıştı.

[amtrips84]

Day96 of Project 365 --- Is that myrmecophily? Ants aiding in pollination has been existing in pollination ecology since the time evolution esp when angiosperms started dominating the earth surface. #myrmecophily #antpollination #pollination #amtripsphotography #smartphoneclicks #project365oninstagram #project365of2017 #naturearoundneighbourhood #natureisbeautiful #evolution #observation #reproductivestrategy

[miomcreat]

#myrmecophilie - in jedem #blühstadium der #pfingstrose (#mudan #牡丹) ist die #gartenameise 🐜 mit dabei (hier: Plauen) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQeC8zqtBpr/?utm_medium=tumblr

[crevicedwelling]

I’ve been seeing these fluffy wax-tailed cixiid planthoppers all through spring, always in close association with Aphaenogaster ants. however, these ants are Lasius, and I think they may have adopted this flock of cixiids after the Aphaenogaster left the area.

presumably, both ant species drink the honeydew produced by the planthoppers, and in return they get a safe place to live and easy access to the tree roots from which they themselves drink. cixiids’ waxy plumes detach at the slightest contact to gum up a predator’s jaws, yet I’ve never seen any ants with wax stuck to them.

this mutualistic relationship comes to an end when the planthoppers mature, leaving the ants to go drink sap from aboveground plants. they also leave behind their wax tail and develop big eyes and glassy wings.

this is a Melanoliarus seen nearby. I’m not sure if it has any relationship to the juvenile cixiids pictured, but if not they’ll probably become something that looks very similar.

[todaysbug]

August 20th, 2022

Ant Bag Beetle (Clytra laeviuscula)

With a red-orange color and black splotches, the ant bag beetle may be mistaken for a ladybird at first glance. These beetles belong to the group Camptosomata, or case-bearing leaf beetles, because adults encase their eggs in a ball of fecal matter. These beetles are found in most of Europe and the Near East, preferring to live in wet forests, floodplains, sunny forest edges, dry slopes and dry grasslands. They may occasionally be found in more urban areas, such as parks and gardens.

The clytrini tribe to which the ant bag beetle belongs is known for its myrmecophily, positive relationships with ants. Ant bag beetles are no exception! Females use their hind legs to wrap each of their eggs in a ball of fecal matter and mucus, which they then leave in the vicinity of an anthill. The ants bring these poop balls into their nests to use as building materials, unaware of the eggs hiding within them. Once hatched, the larvae create a sort of nest within the walls of the anthill, feeding mainly on the ants’ waste, and occasionally their brood. When confronted with the threat of ant stings, the larvae retreat into their home. They may live like this for two whole years, before finally pupating and emerging as adults two weeks later.

Adult ant bag beetles are polyphagous, meaning they can feed on many different types of food; in this case, these beetles are phytophagous (a fancy way to say herbivorous) and graze on the leaves, flowers and pollen of deciduous trees, as well as wild roses, snakeroots and oxeye daisies. 

[mothfishing]

ants are really interesting like they actually have incredibly complex societies and like. ant colonies have such a big impact on their environment that, i’ve mentioned this before, but there’s an entire word just for animal/plant/fungus species that have a mutualistic relationship with ants, myrmecophily. and that’s not even counting how many commensalistic and parasitic relationships many species have with ants as well

i just think about it cause a lot of the stuff they do are not typically understood as the kind of things anything nonhuman does. like the symbiosis between aphids and ants is a classic example, where ants will take care of aphids and protect them from predators in exchange for getting to eat that delicious delicious aphid dew. like they milk them and everything by stroking them with their antennas...and aphid dew from aphids farmed by ants tends to be denser in nutrients than aphid dew from random “wild” aphids. and to protect their livestock, ants will do stuff like destroy ladybug eggs since ladybugs prey on aphids. and when establishing a new colony, they’ll take aphid eggs with them to start a new herd too

and like, take ant mimics. a lot of arthopod species mimic ants, and while there are some that do it so they can prey on ants, we have a lot more examples of bugs that do it so that they can avoid getting eaten by predators that would Rather Not piss off an ant colony. and even some plants will do this too - passion flowers will mimic the appearance of having ants on their petals to get herbivores to leave them alone

and that’s not even ants’ only plant relationship (which ALSO has its own word, myrmecophytes). like a really classic example is ants and acacia trees. the ant colony protects the tree, and in exchange the tree provides the ants food. and yet another example are ant gardens, where some arboreal ants will like...bring debris and stuff up into the canopy and make a kind of mat for arboreal plants to grow in

ALSO there’s a species of parasitoid wasp which like. it secretes a chemical which will make ants go into a frenzy and basically cause chaos in a colony. why? NOT to prey on ants, but to prey on ANOTHER ant parasite, a caterpillar which hides itself among ant larvae

basically ants are very cool

[theropoda]

can you tell me about ant society and farming now im curious

im no ant expert so i dont know much about ant society but i do know about ant farming from what i have read of it! in all honesty i suppose you could say ants beat us to agriculture by... god knows how many years. we're just walking in their footsteps.

the Ant Farm i am most familiar with is aphid farms-- aphids are these teeny tiny little bugs that feed on plant sap, im sure you might've heard of em if you have any interest in gardening as their habit of sucking the life force out of plants makes them seen as pests.

when they do this, they secrete a sweet, sugar rich liquid called honeydew that ants can't get enough of. so ants and aphids end up in a symbiotic relationship that is mighty similar to the way humans take care of livestock. ants look after the aphids, protect them from predators, and even transport them to feeding (or.. sap sucking) locations. in return they get that Sweet Honeydew, that's even been observed to be secreted by the aphids as the ants "stroke" them. with their antenna, something ive seen some people compare to milking a cow!

aphids aren't the only animals that have such a relationship with ants, though, far from it. so many species of animals (and plants... and fungi) have evolved these beautiful symbiotic relationships with ants that there's even a name for the phenomena: myrmecophily, literally meaning "love of ants" :) ❤🐜

these other cases though i dont know much about but i definitely need to read up on them sometime

[bowelflies]

Thanks for the link! I didn’t realize some of the critters I’ve seen around the ants besides the rove beetles were actually also engaging in myrmecophily.

hell yeah dude myrmecophiles are the best

source

[parasitoidism]

top 5 insects ? 🎷🐛

im gonna do top 5 minus wasps because i have already gone on at length

1. phorid fliess theres a bunch of species that are specialist parasitoids of ants (and some bees) but basically they lay their eggs in the ant the larva grows eventually moves to the ants head eats its brain makes it wander off somewhere releases an enzyme that dissolves the muscles connecting the ants head to its body the head falls off and they pupate inside the head! they contain the worlds smallest fly which does this

2. Twisted wing insects (Strepsiptera) these guys are so neat theyre their own order and they really arent closely related to any other orders besides coleoptera (distantly) but they exist as parasites on a pretty wide range of insects but they have this crazy interesting sexual dimorphism the males mature into winged insects but the females basically remain as a larva and never leave the host and the males mate with them right and then the eggs hatch inside her brood chamber and them erm eat her and emerge to find a new host etc etc very cool stuff

3. Rove beetles! they have a ton of documented relationships with ants (myrmecophily) and some of them live their entire lives inside the ant colony and can get the ants to feed and clean them (and sometimes raise their young) but some also just live sort of around the outskirts of the colony but most use some kind of chemical trickery to get stuff out of ants bc ants are stupid as shit and as long as you have the right chemicals theyre like oh cool another ant

4. scorpionflies are always a treat to see they just look so cool. did you know gaming the “scorpion tail” is actually their genitals they cant sting. also hangingflies are a family of scorpionfly and they have this cool mating thing where the female chooses a mate based on gifts the males bring her

5. Termites just bc i want to say that they are in the same order as cockroaches which is a fun little bit of taxonomic weirdness.. and they are in the superorder Dictyoptera with... you guessed it mantises obviously

[archived18482939204848]

Rove beetles have more documented cases of myrmecophily than any other beetles some of them (since ants don’t really “see” but more navigate the world thru chemicals) are even able to dupe the ants into cleaning and feeding them and stuff like they’re an ant. A lot of bugs do this too there’s the Alcon blue butterfly who’s caterpillars smell like ant babies so they clean and feed them and stuff until they pupate and crawl up thru the colony and fly away

this is so so so funny ants are just getting manipulated by every other bug. they’re getting fucked over into fucking cleaning them????? oh my god

[disconcision]

Myrmecophily (literally "ant-love") is the term applied to positive interspecies associations between ants and a variety of other organisms such as plants, other arthropods, and fungi.