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Just read your article, fantastic! Do you have friends amongst the Ants World to get such amazing data? I also do like the make-up of the article with the small ants, various links and so on, good job!
JJ
Hey JJ. Thanx a mint. I was thinking about Myrmecodias because I saw some at a nursery & started reading up on ant plants. I am thinking of putting one in my greenhouse to help keep it pest-free. After looking at all the options, I reckon just about any myrmecophyte would do OK in there. Its just a matter of geting hold of them. I'd love a Nepenthes Vine. They look amazing. The Caularthrons look nice too & the four metre flower spike on the Myrmecophilas would be something to see.
Those plants are amazing, now I guess this is again the result of specific coevolution so you probably have specific ants colonizing specific plants, I mean if you have a Nepenthes or Caularthrons maybe the Aussie ants will not use them. And I am not sure you would be welcome ti import ants from South America or New Guinea!
Yeah there seems to different levels of committment say, in myrmecophytic relationships. With the Nepenthes, there is the Carpenter Ant mentioned that is dependent on it. I doubt if any other species would have the specific instincts to fill its niche. Those two species are married in a sense. Bromeliads & maybe the ferns are more casual. You see a wide range of species in them. I imagine there are ants that strictly build their own colonies & others that are perhaps more pragmatic. Some species you see in Brocchinias for example, may also take advantage of other ants homes they happen to find. They might just as readily take over an old tree stump or something. I am just guessing but if you look at spiders, some are weavers & some hide in an old boot or whatever. Ants may be a bit like that.
