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A Ponerine ant (Hym., Formicidae) associated with Homoptera on cocoa in Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

H. C. Evans  and
Dennis Leston
H. C. Evans
Affiliation:
Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, Tafo, Ghana
Dennis Leston
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana
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Extract

The Ponerine ant Odontomachus haematodus (L.) tendsthe aphid Toxoptera aurantii (Boy.) and a StictococcidStictococcus sjostedti Ckll. on cocoa in Ghana but predates the mealybug Planococcoides njalensis (Laing). Tents are built over the first two, largely of soil particles. Honeydew is collected in the mandibles and carried to the nest or may be accumulated and eventually drunk. Some of the soil used in the tents is infected by blackpod sporangia. Tending homopters is restricted to the immediate vicinity of the nest. The mutualism practised has evolved independently of its occurrence in higher ants.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , November 1971 , pp. 357 - 362
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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