ants consume or store the honeydew which is secreted by aphids or other homopteran insects. major benefit of ant attendance for aphids is protection against natural enemies. a study was carried out during 2009-2010, to determine the mutualistic association between ants and aphids on different host plants in some parts of khuzestan and esfahan provinces. a total of 20 ant species belonging to 12...

Ants are one of evolution’s great success stories. Arising in the mid-Cretaceous about 120 million years ago, they now comprise a diverse assemblage of approximately 20,000 species and have colonized most of the world’s terrestrial biomes. They impose a strong ecological footprint in many communities in their varied roles as scavengers, predators, granivores, and herbivores. In some tropical fo...

We explore here the occurrence of aggressive ants in an apparently symbiotic relationship with the savanna tree Acacia drepanolobium and their effects on giraffe herbivory on the Athi-Kapiti Plains, Kenya. Trees taller than 1.3 m were more likely to be occupied by aggressive ants in the genus Crematogaster than were shorter trees. Ants were concentrated on shoot tips, the plant parts preferred ...

In front of a mirror, and consequently of their reflection view, ants behaved otherwise than when in front of nestmates seen through a glass. Seeing nestmates through a glass, ants behaved as usual, i.e. without taking close notice of them. In front of a mirror, they rapidly moved their head and antennae, to the right and the left, touched the mirror, went away from it and stopped, cleaning the...

Recently, some polysaccharides showed therapeutic potentials for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases while the most important property, their permeability to the blood brain barrier (BBB) that sheathes the brain and spinal cord, is not yet determined. The determination has been delayed by the difficulty in tracking a target polysaccharide among endogenous polysaccharides in animal. We d...

The degree to which changes in community composition mediate the probability of colonization and spread of non-native species is not well understood, especially in animal communities. High species richness may hinder the establishment of non-native species. Distinguishing between this scenario and cases in which non-native species become established in intact (lacking extensive anthropogenic so...

Hawaii is home to over 60 ant species, including five of the six most damaging invasive ants. Although there have been many surveys of ants in Hawaii, the last island-wide hand-collection survey of ants on Oahu was conducted in 1988-1994. In 2012, a timed hand-collection of ants was made at 44 sites in a systematic, roadside survey throughout Oahu. Ants were identified and species distribution ...

Macaranga myrmecophytes (ant-plants) are generally well protected from herbivore attacks by their symbiotic ants (plant-ants). However, larvae of Arhopala (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) species survive and develop on specific Macaranga ant-plant species without being attacked by the plant-ants of their host species. We hypothesized that Arhopala larvae chemically mimic or camouflage themselves with ...

Deneubourg et al. 1] introduced a model of sorting behavior in ants. They found that simple model ants were able to sort into piles objects initially strewn randomly across the plane. The model is in qualitative agreement with the behavior of real ants. The model ants operate according to local strategic rules and possess only local perceptual capacities. Nonetheless, they are able to impose gl...

Ants dominate many terrestrial ecosystems, yet we know little about their nutritional physiology and ecology. While traditionally viewed as predators and scavengers, recent isotopic studies revealed that many dominant ant species are functional herbivores. As with other insects with nitrogen-poor diets, it is hypothesized that these ants rely on symbiotic bacteria for nutritional supplementatio...