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I am not sure what is going on here, maybe ants farming aphids? This is a flower bud that hasn't opened yet. Perhaps the black bug at the top of the photos is an aphid. (There is one behind the one in focus) I watched these for the better part of half an hour. The black bugs at the top did not try to escape. The ants were sure giving them a lot of attention. Not sure what the small bugs in the center-lower part of the photos are, baby aphids maybe? Several leaves had these small black bugs on them but no ants. The black bugs were less than a millimeter in length. The small orange ones were maybe a half a millimeter in length. I will go back tomorrow and spend some time trying to get better shots. 04 March 2014, just posted three more photos of the ants farming the aphids. They had moved but they or some other aphids were on the flower bloom again today, today at the base of the bloom.
In garden
Spotted on Mar 1, 2014
Submitted on Mar 1, 2014
9 Comments
Gatorfellows, I checked near dark a couple of days. The flower bud fell off the tree so the aphids and ants had to move from there or either they fell off the tree too. Found some more aphids the last couple of days on another flower bud right at dark but no ants.
I will add the photos to the two missions below you provided right now. Thanks for all your help. Joe
Here are two PN Missions that you might like to add this spotting to:
Symbiotic Relationships: http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/7987...
Hymenoptera of the World http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/9004...
Then you might have ants that are doing defensive symbiosis. Some species of ants will take the aphids back to their nest at night to protect them from predators. They return them in the morning. Others species herd the aphids or tranquilize them to keep them in place. So now the challenge is to watch them late in the day/evening or early morning to see if you have the ants that are taking their aphids away. What fun :)
Gatorfellows, ok. It did not rain here yesterday. This morning the same aphids or different ones along with the ants were back on the flower bloom, at the base of the flower today. Just posted three more photos. I looked but did not see any obvious predators. Some birds flying around the area in the late afternoons. Thanks. Joe
Hi Joe; your photo shows stages of aphids, some ready to get wings. I think you had a beneficial predator come and eat your aphids or a heavy rain washed them away. Aphid usually attach with their needle like mouthparts and do not move from the food source. Look for the predators in your garden.
Gatorfellows, thanks. I went back to the garden today but the aphids and ants had moved off that flower bud. I will look for them again the next time I go to the garden, probably tomorrow. Joe
yes it is :)
Gator Fellows. Thanks. I've read a couple of articles on ant farming. Interesting subject. Joe
This article explains Ant Mutualism - the farming of honeydew from aphid excretions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphid