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Project Noah Nature School
Acacia: Acacia cornigera, Ant: Pseudomyrmex ferruginea
A very young Swollen Thorn Acacia with just two sets of thorns, but already colonized by Pseudomyrmex ants. The thorns are hollow and are used as nests by the ants which make a small round hole at the tip of each thorn. The Ants protect the plant from herbivores and vines and in return the ant provides food and lodging. The extra-floral nectaries are visible both above and below the thorns. This is one of the most marvelous stories of plant-insect symbiosis. See this GREAT video on the Acacia Ant by National Geographic: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/vide....
Forest trail between Mazunte and Punto Cometa, Oaxaca.
Spotted on Jul 16, 2014
Submitted on Jul 25, 2014
3 Comments
I spent a couple of years at Ecosur Chetumal, and my advisor found a new Acacia specie en Xian-Kan
Hi Juan, Are you doing a thesis with Ecosur in Mexico? San Cristobal? Was it a new species of Acacia or of the Ant?
These plants are very interesting, specially the symbiosis they have with ants. My thesis advisor in Ecosur discovered a species of this genus.