A novel relationship between ants and a leafhopper (Hymenoptera: Formicidae; Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

Title:

A novel relationship between ants and a leafhopper (Hymenoptera: Formicidae; Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

Creator:

Steiner, Florian M., Schlick-Steiner, Birgit C., Holzinger, Werner, Komposch, Christian , Pazoutova, Sylvie, Santera, Matthias, and Christian , Erhard

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:bd87b9d2-393b-45ba-928e-2d338dc5bbba
uuid:bd87b9d2-393b-45ba-928e-2d338dc5bbba

Subject:

Araneae, Auchenorrhyncha, ant-leafhopper relationship, honeydew, insect-insect interactions, mutualism, Cicadellidae, Formicidae, Balclutha punctata, and Calamagrostis epigejos

Type:

article, model:article, and TEXT

Description:

Ten ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from three subfamilies feed on honeydew excreted by nymphs of the leafhopper Balclutha punctata (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). This relationship is facultative for the partners. Preliminary field observations suggest a mutualistic interaction that represents an intermediate stage in the spectrum of formicid-hemipteran mutualisms. Behavioural adaptations of the leafhopper (no escape reaction) and the ants (no predation of leafhoppers, protection from spiders) are evident, but characters of advanced facultative mutualism such as physical contact between the partners or ant-triggered excretion of honeydew were not observed.

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
policy:public

Source:

European Journal of Entomology | 2004 Volume:101 | Number:4

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false