Some ants treat their own infections by eating aphids containing an antiseptic ingredient. In previous laboratory experiments, silky ants (Formica fusca) with fungal infections chose to eat food laced ...

The ants protect the aphid colonies from insect predators and fungal infections and in some cases may take the aphids into shelter from inclement weather. In a few cases the aphids have evolved a way ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Myrmecophily is pronounced mur-muh-KOF-uh-lee and literally means ant love. With a pretty literal meaning, it refers to the ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Ants can seem to show up out of nowhere in your garden. One day you've got beautiful plants that look healthy, and the next you've got ants ...

Aphids are very small common insects. They have tiny, sharp, pointed mouths which they stick into the skin of tender stems and new-growth leaves of specific plants. Once an aphid's mouth is stuck in ...

Whenever I asked students to tell me how insects were ecologically important, two of the most common responses were “as plant pollinators” and “some insects were vectors/carriers of diseases.” It ...