Pseudomyrmex spinicola
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Family: Formicidae Genus: Pseudomyrmex Species: P. spinicola
Binomial name
Pseudomyrmex spinicola Emery, 1890

Pseudomyrmex spinicola is a species of red myrmecophyte-inhabitating neotropical ants which are found only in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They live in the thorns of a tropical tree, Acacia collinsii, feeding on nectaries along with the protein and lipid-rich belsian bodies^[1]. These bodies are named for Thomas Belt, a naturalist who first described the interactions between acacias and ants in his 1874 book Naturalist in Nicaragua. This article explains how to read a taxobox. ... For other uses, see Scientific classification (disambiguation). ... Animalia redirects here. ... Subphyla and Classes Subphylum Trilobitomorpha Trilobita - trilobites (extinct) Subphylum Chelicerata Arachnida - spiders,scorpions, etc. ... Orders See taxonomy Insects are invertebrates that are taxonomically referred to as the class Insecta. ... Suborders Apocrita Symphyta Many families, see article Hymenoptera is one of the larger orders of Insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. ... Subfamilies Formicomorph subfamilies Aneuretinae Dolichoderinae Formicinae - e. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Emery may refer to: Emery (mineral), a rock used to make abrasives, largely consisting of the mineral corundum, but often containing other hard minerals such as hercynite (iron spinel) Emery Worldwide, a cargo airline Emery (band), a Christian post-hardcore band Emery board, nail filers Emery as a place name... A myrmecophyte is a plant that lives in association with a colony of ants and possesses specialized organs in which the ants live. ... Neotropical or Neotropic relates to a biogeographical region in the New World, bordered in the north by the dry areas in Mexico and the southern states of the USA. in the south by southern Patagonia. ... Subfamilies Aenictinae Aenictogitoninae Aneuretinae Apomyrminae Cerapachyinae Dolichoderinae Dorylinae Ecitoninae Formicinae Leptanillinae Leptanilloidinae Myrmeciinae Myrmicinae Nothomyrmeciinae Ponerinae Proceratiinae Pseudomyrmecinae Ants are social insects that belong to the same order as the wasps and bees. ... Binomial name Acacia collsinii Saff. ... Nectar of camellia Nectar, in botany, is a sugar-rich liquid produced by the flowers of plants in order to attract pollinating animals. ... Lipids are a class of hydrocarbon-containing organic compounds. ...

P. spinicola are the more aggressive among a number of A. collinsii-inhabitating species that engage in a classic case of mutualism. The ants receive colony space in A. collinsii to support their population structure. In return, the ants actively defend the tree from herbivory and often from competing plants nearby, clearing the forest floor of other seedlings. Sometimes, a large P. spinicola colony may be spread between two or more trees, protecting each tree within their colony and possibly grooming A. collinsii seedlings within that microhabitat to be used by the colony. Ant-aphid mutualism: the aphids are protected against predators by the ants who cultivate the aphids for their secretions of honeydew, a food source. ... A deer and two fawns feeding on some foliage A herbivore is often defined as any organism that eats only plants[1]. By that definition, many fungi, some bacteria, many animals, about 1% of flowering plants and some protists can be considered herbivores. ... Habitat (from the Latin for it inhabits) is the place where a particular species lives and grows. ...

Populations of mutualistic myrmecophyte-inhabitating ants may be space limited^[2], and therefore P. spinicola use the largest-volume thorns for the queen's chamber and other large-volume thorns for egg nurseries^[3]. The smallest eggs will be found in the queen's chamber, before being redistributed to other larger thorns to be nursed through early life stages. A queen is the only female insect in a hive that is fertile and egg laying; for example, a queen bee, wasp, hornet, ant, or termite. ...

References

1. ^ Zuchowski, Willow (2005). A Guide to the Tropical Plants of Costa Rica. Distribuidores Zona Tropical, S.A: Miami, FL. 
2. ^ Fonseca, Carlos (1999). Amazonian ant-plant interactions and the nesting space limitation hypothesis. Journal of Tropical Ecology 15: 807–825.
3. ^ Gorbatkin, Chad, Samwick Haynor, Sarah Isbey & Sonia Lei (2007). "The colony architecture of Pseudomyrmex spinicola in the ant-plant Acacia collinsii". Dartmouth Studies in Tropical Ecololgy: in press.