In article ,
Tumbleweed wrote:
I have watched ants attacking ladybirds near aphids, effectively protecting
them. They may not do it deliberately, but if the ants get some benefit from
the aphids (why else follow them around) then protecting them in this way
would help the ants. OTOH if the aphids gain nothing by being protected from
ladybirds and the like, then so much for aphid control by predators or
selective spraying.

Not at all. It is very common for animals to perform actions that have
no useful effect because they had an effect earlier in evolutionary
history.

I have watched ants walking over ladybird larvae, completely ignoring
them.

There might not be any evidence that it makes a major difference, but is
that because people have done the experiments and observations and seen no
relationship, or because no one looked?

Some people have done experiments and found no difference. Nobody
so far has reported an experiment that detects a difference in the
UK.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.