''Pseudomyrmex spinicola'' is a species of red

myrmecophyte Myrmecophytes (; literally "ant-plant") are plants that live in a mutualistic association with a colony of ants. There are over 100 different genera of myrmecophytes. These plants possess structural adaptations that provide ants with food and ...

-inhabiting

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

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 ...

s which are found only in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

and Costa Rica. They live in the thorns of tropical trees like ''

Acacia collinsii ''Vachellia collinsii'' is a species of flowering plant native to Central America and parts of Africa. It grows in secondary succession in seasonally dry ecosystems in southern Central America, with preferences to Savannah-like climate. The Vac ...

'' or ''Acacia allenii'', feeding on

nectaries Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualist ...

along with the protein and

lipid Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids includ ...

-rich

beltian bodies A Beltian body is a detachable tip found on the pinnules of some species of '' Acacia'' and closely related genera. Beltian bodies, named after Thomas Belt, are rich in lipids, sugars and proteins and often red in colour. They are believed to have ...

. These bodies are named for

Thomas Belt Thomas Belt (183221 September 1878), an English geologist and naturalist, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1832, and educated in that city. He is remembered for his work on the geology of gold bearing minerals, glacial geology, and for his desc ...

, a naturalist who first described the interactions between acacias and ants in his 1874 book ''Naturalist in Nicaragua.'' Belt's book in fact described ants of this species, then unknown. ''P. spinicola'' are the more aggressive among a number of ''A. collinsii''-inhabiting 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 A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

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 In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

to be used by the colony. Populations of mutualistic myrmecophyte-inhabiting ants may be space limited, and therefore ''P. spinicola'' use the largest-volume thorns for the

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's chamber and other large-volume thorns for egg nurseries. 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.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q14566137 Insects described in 1890 Pseudomyrmecinae Hymenoptera of North America