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When Beetle & Ant War Over Food Resources

Harmonia axyridis Pallas

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Field Notes

Notes:

A beetle eat plant-louse (aphids)...(photo 2, 3, 4) on leaf where is ant's territory.., then an ant tries to repel the beetle. The ant sprays some sort of liquid to the beetle (photo 1, 5, 6)...
Aphids live in symbiosis with ants. Quite often the ants move the aphids from plant to another plant like "shepherding". Aphids secreting honeydew. The ants eat/drink this sweet liquid.

Reference Links:

Harmonia axyridis

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (10)
NicoleB
Thanks for this series and the explanation! I always thought that ants actually eat the aphids too. Guess I was wrong - that explains a lot :)
MediyansyahTaharani
Propylea quatuordecimpunctata, light orange (not red) variant(?) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylea_quatuordecimpunctata
MediyansyahTaharani
and... NOT all species of beetle will eat aphids... as shown in the photos, beetle species that eat aphids: bright red beetle with black round spots.
HemaShah
There are two types of ants that have come across. The red and Black. The red ones can bite very hard!!
BareFeat
So this explains what ive been watching go down on my rose bushes. I knew the ants were "taking care" of the aphids, but wasn't exactly sure why. Great series of photos, thanks for the spot!

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Interaction between different species of Arthropods

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PublishedJune 19, 2011

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