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Asian Weaver Ant
Oecophylla smaragdina
15.4557, 119.922
Field Notes
Description:
Oecophylla smaragdina Fabricius, 1775. My photos above, show Asian Weaver Ants sharing a habitat with Aphids. There is a plethora of information available on the species interaction between ants and aphids, but it all boils down to the fact that ants like the Honeydew secretions of the aphids and do not harm them in any way. In fact, they apparently protect them from predation and some ant species have been observed herding aphids in the way a farmer herds cattle. This is all laid out clearly and concisely in https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/farmer-ants-and-their-ap….
Habitat:
The Ants and Aphids were spotted on a Hibiscus plant which had become entangled with a Bougainvillea spectabilis in a corner of our front yard.
Notes:
I am not entirely sure of the identification of the Aphids, but I think they are Toxoptera citricida commonly called the Oriental Citrus Aphid. The adult is shiny black and wingless (aptera) or winged (alate or alatoid), and the nymph is dark reddish brown. I have paraphrased this from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoptera_citricida
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