Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 12, 2026
08:10
A Visual Guide for Studying Behavioral Defenses to Pathogen Attacks in Leaf-Cutting Ants
Published on: October 12, 2018
Treehoppers transfer parental care to ants: a new benefit of mutualism
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|April 29, 1983
Abstract:
Female treehoppers (Publilia reticulata Van Duzee) modify their parental care behavior in the presence of ants. Females with untended young remain with their original brood, but females from ant-tended colonies readily desert their first brood and produce additional clutches. Care by female treehoppers, in the absence of ants, increases the probability that a colony will produce some survivors, but ant attendance greatly increases the number of surviving nymphs.
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