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Passion flower ant conundrum
For a while I've been wondering why ants are so interested in my
Passion flower plant. I've been manually picking aphids off this plant - so the ant interest seems to be due to some other factor. To cut a long story short, I think I may have found the solution: I long ago noticed that the ants are interesed in the "fake eggs" that passion flower plants grow at the base of their leaves. I'd previously assumed that the function of these nodes was as imitation Heliconius caterpillar eggs - with the idea of preventing female Heliconius butterflies from laying eggs on leaves that appear to be already occupied by other cannibalistic caterpillar eggs. However I recently read that the plant produces nectar to attract ants: ``Passionflower vines may enlist ants to pick off any young Heliconius caterpillars developing on the leaves. In return the vines supply the ants with nectar.'' - http://insectzoo.msstate.edu/OrkinZoo/lifeOpen.html I assume that the "fake eggs" are also ant feeding stations. That would explain what I'm seeing. -- __________ |im |yler http://timtyler.org/ Remove lock to reply. |
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On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 19:46:36 GMT, Tim Tyler wrote:
For a while I've been wondering why ants are so interested in my Passion flower plant. I've been manually picking aphids off this plant - so the ant interest seems to be due to some other factor. To cut a long story short, I think I may have found the solution: I long ago noticed that the ants are interesed in the "fake eggs" that passion flower plants grow at the base of their leaves. I'd previously assumed that the function of these nodes was as imitation Heliconius caterpillar eggs - with the idea of preventing female Heliconius butterflies from laying eggs on leaves that appear to be already occupied by other cannibalistic caterpillar eggs. However I recently read that the plant produces nectar to attract ants: ``Passionflower vines may enlist ants to pick off any young Heliconius caterpillars developing on the leaves. In return the vines supply the ants with nectar.'' - http://insectzoo.msstate.edu/OrkinZoo/lifeOpen.html I assume that the "fake eggs" are also ant feeding stations. That would explain what I'm seeing. There are nectar-secreting glands found at several positions on passion flower plants: on the under sides of the leaves, around the edge of the bracts, and from glands on the petioles (leaf stalks), and of course within the flower. Not all passion flowers have them in all the places. It's quite usual to see drops of nectar oozing from the glands, and handling the plants can leave your hands quite sticky. -- Chris E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net |
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