The brood nest of the ant-plant ant Azteca holds a mix of ant larvae (the larger grubs) and Beltian food bodies (the smaller ovoids).

Icononzo, Tolima, Colombia
Formica montana tending Publilia treehopper nymphs for honeydew.

Lake Forest, Illinois, USA
A scale insect tended by Crematogaster ants.

Carrancas, Minas Gerais, Brazil
An Acropyga goeldii worker carries a mealybug.

Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Formica montana tending Publilia treehopper nymphs for honeydew.

Lake Forest, Illinois, USA
Prenolepis imparis tending aphids for honeydew.

Lake Forest, Illinois, USA
Plants of the genus Inga have nectaries on the upper surface of their leaves to attract ants that may remove the plants' herbivores.This one has brought in a Camponotus carpenter ant.

Napo, Ecuador
A Linepithema iniquum worker collects honeydew from a flat scale insect.

Maquipucuna reserve, Pichincha, Ecuador
A colony of tiny Allomerus octoarticulatus ants inhabits the swollen domatia of a Cordia nodosa understory shrub.

Jatun Sacha reserve, Napo, Ecuador
An Acropyga goeldii worker carries a mealybug.

Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
An Acropyga goeldii worker carries a mealybug.

Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
An Acropyga goeldii worker carries a mealybug.

Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
See photo in original gallery.
all images and text © Alex Wild 2001-2013