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 spinicolaPseudomyrmaPseudomyrmexPseudomyrmecinaeformicidaeant plantants and plantsecologymutualismcoevolutionadaptationevolutionbeltian bodyAcaciatropical ecologyinsectsinsectswollen thorn acaciabotanysciencewhiteant plants