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Some ants are tending insects!?
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Do you know that some ant species habitually tend insects? Such insect
keeper ants use the honeydew excreted by the tiny insect ﾒcows,ﾓ in the
same way that humans raise cows or sheep in order to use the milk these
produce.
This is quite an incredible story. What kind of insects are these ants
tending and how do they make use of them?
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An ant of the Formica japonica species receiving honeydew secreted from
the end of an aphid's (plant louse's) abdomen
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For example, ants of the Lasius flavus species capture and carry aphids
to their nests where they care for them, keeping them ready to ﾒmilkﾓ
at will, exclusively for the member ants of the nest.
Moreover, other ant species also make use of aphids (plant lice) and
scale insects. Those insects suck juices from plants and excrete honeydew
from the end of their abdomens.
Ants frequently touch and tap the end of the aphidsﾕ abdomens with their
antennae to stimulate the excretion of honeydew and the aphids actually
produce it upon demand. In return for the honeydew produced by aphids,
the insect keeper ants protect the aphids from their natural enemies.
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Insects tended by ants |
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Cooperation between
ants and insects |
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Ants that grow mushrooms
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There is a species of
ants that grow mushrooms for food in their nests. This species, which is
confined to Central and South America, is the leaf-cutter ant, or parasol
ant.
Leaf cutters chew leaf sections they have carried back from the trees on
the earth into a pulp (sponge-like masses), which they store in a special
chamber far under the earthﾕs surface. In the chamber, the pulp is used
as a substrate on which their fungus and mushrooms can grow, and it is the
mushrooms that are eaten.
Ants of this species can be called farmer ants. However, this species is
a great pest to fruit growers, because the leaves of many trees are cut,
which can ruin a whole plantation in a short time if the parasol ants are
left unchecked. |
A leaf-cutter ant
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Ant
kingdom