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ANT?

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9 Comments

Christiane
Christiane 11 years ago

Thanks vipin.baliga, alicelongmartin, KarenL. I finally have added it to the mission! :)

vipin.baliga
vipin.baliga 12 years ago

This is so fascinating..!!!
Such a complex relationship here... :-)

KarenL
KarenL 12 years ago

How fascinating! Yes, please do add this to the mission!

alicelongmartin
alicelongmartin 12 years ago

I think this should be put in the "Symbiotic Relationships" Mission.

bayucca
bayucca 12 years ago

Unfortunately these caterpillars are out of my geographical range! Maybe Martin has some IDeas. I am pretty sure it is a Lycaenidae/Hairstreak caterpillar, since these and Riodinidae are quite famous for this relationship. Looks like a Philiris sp., but I am not sure...
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au...

Christiane
Christiane 12 years ago

@ Bayucca.. Great info .. did you see the other spottings? I would really like to know what kind of caterpillar these are??? http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/915...

bayucca
bayucca 12 years ago

Interesting spotting! I do not think that it is a poor caterpillar. This might actually be an interesting example of quite a close relationship between a caterpillar and ants. The ants are protecting the caterpillar in exchange for nutritional liquids. Any predator of the caterpillar will be attacked by the ants. The caterpillar will attrack the ants by some kind of "singing".
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/852...
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/890...

alicelongmartin
alicelongmartin 12 years ago

Is there a story of what they are doing with the caterpilar?

KarenL
KarenL 12 years ago

Poor caterpillar! You should add this to the Arthropod Interactions mission!

Christiane
Spotted by
Christiane

4816, Queensland, Australia

Spotted on Feb 24, 2012
Submitted on Feb 25, 2012

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