''Philidris nagasau'' is a species of

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

in the genus ''

Philidris ''Philidris'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Dolichoderinae. The genus is known from tropical forests from eastern India to northern Australia. It is similar to the genus ''Iridomyrmex'', from where the type species In zoological nomencl ...

''. Described by

William M. Mann William Montana Mann (1886–1960) was an American entomologist and the fifth director of the National Zoological Park (United States), National Zoo in Washington, D.C. from 1925 until 1956. In 1921, he traveled on the Mulford Expedition to the ...

in 1921, the species is endemic to Fiji. ''Philidris nagasau'' makes its living by planting seeds of

epiphytes An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

such as ''

Squamellaria ''Squamellaria'' is a genus of myrmecophytic flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to the islands of Fiji. It is one of five ant-plant genera in the family Rubiaceae, the others being ''Anthorrhiza'', ''Hydnophytum'', '' Myr ...

'' in the bark of host trees and tending them like a garden. Their planting habits share a remarkable similarity to that of humans. They are able to identify the seeds of their preferred plant, plant these seeds, guard their plots from potential predators, and finally use their own feces to fertilize the young seedling. There is also evidence that these ants lost their ability to nest before ''Squamellaria'' developed

domatia A domatium (plural: domatia, from the Latin "domus", meaning home) is a tiny chamber that houses arthropods, produced by a plant. Ideally domatia differ from galls in that they are produced by the plant rather than being induced by their inhabi ...

for these ants to reside. This suggests that ''P. nagasau'' selectively breed ''Squamellaria'' with wider openings that eventually developed into domatia.

References

Dolichoderinae Insects described in 1887 Insects of Fiji {{Dolichoderinae-stub