In exchange for protection, swollen-thorn Acacia trees provide Pseudomyrmex ants with food and shelter. Here an ant feeds from a leaf nectary. (Pseudomyrmex spinicola) Chiriqui, Panama - Alex Wild Photography - Insect Photography

Pseudomyrmex

is a largely tropical genus of elongate ants, usually arboreal, found throughout the warmer regions of the New World. Several Central American species have evolved complex and specialized relationships with the Acacia plants they inhabit.

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In exchange for protection, swollen-thorn Acacia trees provide Pseudomyrmex ants with food and shelter. Here an ant feeds from a leaf nectary. (Pseudomyrmex spinicola)

Chiriqui, Panama

Not all of the thorns on a swollen-thorn Acacia house the ants' larvae, but those that do are heavily guarded. Here, Pseudomyrmex spinicola patrol a nest entrance, ready to use their stings if the photographer approaches too close.

Chiriqui, Panama.

Pseudomyrmex spinicola workers harvest Beltian bodies on an Acacia tree. The tree and the ant are locked into relationship where the survival of both partners depends on the other. The ants provide the Acacia with protection from herbivores and from competing plants, while the tree provides the ants with food and shelter.

Chiriqui, Panama.

Friend or Foe? Two Pseudomyrmex spinicola acacia ant nestmates evaluate each other at the nest entrance.

Panama City, Panama

Cutting open the surprisingly soft flesh of an Acacia thorn reveals larvae and pupae of the Pseudomyrmex spinicola acacia ant.

Chiriqui, Panama.

Pseudomyrmex termitarius is unusual for a Pseudomyrmex in its soil-nesting habits. This species inhabits old termite mounds in the soil.

Carrancas, Minas Gerais, Brazil

A Pseudomyrmex sp. elongate twig ant cradles a droplet of honeydew between her mandibles.

Mindo, Ecuador

In exchange for protection, swollen-thorn Acacia trees provide Pseudomyrmex ants with food and shelter. Here an ant feeds from a leaf nectary. (Pseudomyrmex spinicola)

Chiriqui, Panama

Canon EOS 20D |

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Original size: 2883x1861 |

Current: 800x517 |

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Keywords: acacia ecology hormiga mutualism pseudomyrmex spinicola nectary

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Pseudomyrmex

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