Ant mimicry

Ants are abundant all over the world, and potential predators that rely on vision to identify their prey, such as birds and wasps, normally avoid them, because they are either unpalatable or aggressive.

Batesian mimics lack strong defences of their own, and make use of their resemblance to a well-defended model, in this case ants, to avoid being attacked by their predators.

[2][3] The mimicry can be extremely close: for instance, Dipteran flies in the genus Syringogaster "strikingly" resemble Pseudomyrmex and are hard even for experts to distinguish "until they take flight".

For example, the thick waist of the Mirid ant bug Myrmecoris gracilis has white markings at the front of its abdomen and the back of its thorax, making it look ant-waisted.

[8] A study of three species of mantises suggested that they innately avoided ants as prey, and that this aversion extends to ant-mimicking jumping spiders.

[14] The cricket Myrmecophilus acervorum was one of the earliest myrmecophiles to be studied; its relationship with ants was first described by the Italian naturalist Paolo Savi in 1819.

Mimicry appears to be achieved by a combination of social releasers (signals), whether by imitating the ants' solicitation (begging) signals with suitable behaviour or ant pheromones with suitable chemicals; Hölldobler and Wilson propose that Wasmannian mimicry, where the mimic lives alongside the model, be redefined to permit any such combination, making it essentially a synonym for myrmecophily.

In Aloeides dentatis the tubercles release the mimicking pheromone which deceives its host, the ant Acantholepis caprensis, into caring for the mimics as they would their own brood.

Larvae of the mountain Alcon blue, Phengaris rebeli, similarly mimic Myrmica ants and feed on their brood.

[26] Multiple groups of insects have evolved ant mimicry for their young, while their adults are protected in different ways, either being camouflaged or have conspicuous warning coloration.

[2] The phasmid Extatosoma tiaratum, resembling dried thorny leaves as an adult, hatches from the egg as a replica of a Leptomyrmex ant, with a red head and black body.

The long end is curled to make the body shape appear ant-like, and the movement is erratic, while the adults move differently, if at all.

In some species the eggs resemble ant-dispersed (myrmecochoric) plant seeds, complete with a mimic oil body (a "capitulum").

[14][13] Snails[14] Spiders[7] Mites[14] Millipedes[14] Isopods[14] Crickets[2] Stick insects[27] Mantises[29] True bugs[30] Thrips[31] Parasitoid wasps[22] Beetles[16][32] Butterfly larvae[20] Flies[30][33] Snakes[14] Passiflora[12]