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Pseudomyrmex peperi is an obligate Acacia inhabitant. Here, a worker gathers a lipid-rich Beltian body from a leaf tip. The plant feeds the ants in exchange for protection from herbivores and competing plants. Armenia, Belize
Pseudomyrmex peperi is an obligate Acacia inhabitant. Here, a worker gathers a lipid-rich Beltian body from a leaf tip. The plant feeds the ants in exchange for protection from herbivores and competing plants. Armenia, Belize
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.
Portrait of a mutualism: a swollen-thorn Acacia with the ants that protect it. The hundreds of thorns on a mature tree can house colonies of up to 20,000 ants. Chiriqui, Panama
A Pseudomyrmex spinicola worker ant harvests Beltian bodies on an Acacia tree. These bodies form the primary food source for the ants' larvae. Chiriqui, Panama
In exchange for protection, swollen-thorn Acacia trees provide Pseudomyrmex ants with food and shelter. Here an ant harvests a protein-rich food body that will be fed to the ants' larvae. (Pseudomyrmex spinicola) Chiriqui, Panama.
Pseudomyrmex spinicola guard their thorn nest. 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.
Portrait of a mutualism: a swollen-thorn Acacia with the ants that protect it. The hundreds of thorns on a mature tree can house colonies of up to 20,000 ants. Chiriqui, Panama
Pseudomyrmex peperi is an obligate Acacia inhabitant. Here, a worker gathers a lipid-rich Beltian body from a leaf tip. The plant feeds the ants in exchange for protection from herbivores and competing plants.

Armenia, Belize
Pseudomyrmex peperi is an obligate Acacia inhabitant. Here, a worker gathers a lipid-rich Beltian body from a leaf tip. The plant feeds the ants in exchange for protection from herbivores and competing plants. Armenia, Belize
Pseudomyrmex peperi is an obligate Acacia inhabitant. Here, a worker gathers a lipid-rich Beltian body from a leaf tip. The plant feeds the ants in exchange for protection from herbivores and competing plants.

Armenia, Belize
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all images and text © Alex Wild 2001-2013