Weaver Ants tending Scale Insects on Carvanda

[Neil Soares]

Hi,  Thought this might be interesting. Photographed at my farm at Shahapur on Sunday....   Weaver ants [Oecophylla smaragdina] tending Scale insects [Family Coccidae] because they, like treehoppers, also secrete honeydew. Also seen is the start of the ant's nest on Carvanda [Carissa congesta].                                 Regards,                                   Neil Soares.

[tanay bose]

Nice catch Neil ji !! 

Interesting

Tanay

--

Tanay Bose

Research Assistant & Teaching Assistant.
Department of Botany.
University of British Columbia .
3529-6270 University Blvd.
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4 (Canada)
Phone: 778-323-4036 (Mobile)

           604-822-2019 (Lab)

           604-822-6089  (Fax)

ta...@interchange.ubc.ca

Webpages: 

http://www.botany.ubc.ca/people/mberbee.html

http://www.botany.ubc.ca/people/gradstud.html

https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/

[Yazdy Palia]

Nice pictures Mr. Neil,
I have seen the symbiotic relationship between these scale insects and several varieties of ants. One good way, I found to control these weaver ants is by encouraging the black cocktail ants to multiply. They too have a bad sting but not as bad as these weaver ants.
Regards.
Yazdy.