Mimicry

Mimicry of ants is a fairly common and widespread phenomenon involving a large number of ant and non-ant species. These include a range of insects from at least 10 orders as well as spiders from at least 9 families. Mimics can be found world-wide in all habitats where ants occur.

Mimicry can take two forms: myrmecomorphy and myrmecophily. Myrmecomorphy is a subset of ant mimicry which includes all species that resemble ants through convergence in morphological, behavioral, chemical, or textural characters. Myrmecophiles are those arthropods that associate closely with ants but do not necessarily resemble them (Kistner, 1982). Unlike most myrmecomorphic species, myrmecophiles are typically convergent in chemical and/or textural characters that facilitate a close relationship with their ant models (Holldobler, 1971). Some myrmecophiles are also myrmecomorphic, and these have been named Wasmannian mimics (Rettenmeyer, 1970) after the pioneering work of Wasmann (e.g. Wasmann, 1925).

Ants Mimicking other Ants

Within Madagascar, there are four species of Camponotus, Camponotus imitator, Camponotus jodina, Camponotus karaha and Camponotus longicollis, that mimic the general form and behavior of the Aphaenogaster swammerdami group, specifically Aphaenogaster bressleri, Aphaenogaster gonacantha, Aphaenogaster makay, Aphaenogaster sahafina and Aphaenogaster swammerdami. These Camponotus mimics are often seen foraging with workers of Aphaenogaster, but potential benefits for Camponotus have not been studied (Csosz et al., 2021).

Plant Bugs - Family Miridae

Within mirid plant bugs, myrmecomorphy is a common adaptation in many groups, generally characterized by a rounded head well separated from a sometimes anteriorly narrowed pronotum, and constricted hemelytra (or a basally constricted abdomen in brachypterous forms) to give the image of three antlike body sections (Wheeler & Henery, 2008).

Photo Gallery

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  An ant-mimicking katydid nymph (subfamily Phaneropterinae). Photo by Paul Bertner.
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  Ant-mimicking orthopteran nymph.
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  The stereotyped, raised body posture of a foraging Crematogaster ampla worker; B. the same raised body posture seen in a foraging worker of the turtle ant Cephalotes specularis when running in C. ampla foraging trails. Photo by Scott Powell, from Powell et al. 2018. Figure 1. A.
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  Camponotus karaha, one of four Camponotus species that mimic Aphaenogaster in Madagascar. Photo by California Academy of Sciences (Csősz et al. 2021, Fig. B).

References

• Csősz, S., Loss, A.C., Fisher, B.L. 2021. Taxonomic revision of the Malagasy Aphaenogaster swammerdami group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). PeerJ 9, e10900. (doi:10.7717/peerj.10900).
• Danoff-Burg, J.A. 2008. Myrmecophiles. Pages 2537-2540 in: Capinera, J.L. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Entomology. Springer, Dordrecht (doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6359-6_4761).
• Holldobler, B. 1971. Communication between ants and their guests. Scientific American 224: 86-93.
• Kistner, D. H. 1982. The social insects’ bestiary. In Social Insects, Vol 3, ed. H. R. Hermann. pp. 1-244. New York: Academic. 491 pp.
• McIver, J., Stonedahl, G. 1993. Myrmecomorphy: Morphological and behavioral mimicry of ants. Annual Review of Entomology 38:351-377 (doi:10.1146/annurev.en.38.010193.002031).
• McIver, J., Stonedahl, G. 2008. Myrmecomorphy. Pages 2532-2537 in: Capinera, J.L. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Entomology. Springer, Dordrecht (doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6359-6_4761).
• Rettenmeyer, C. W. 1970. Insect mimicry. Annual Review of Entomology 15: 49-74
• Wasmann, E. 1925. Die Ameisenmimikry. Abh. Theor. Biol. 19: 168.
• Wheeler, A.G., Henery, T.J. 2008. Plant Bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae). Pages 2909-2914 in: Capinera, J.L. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Entomology. Springer, Dordrecht (doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6359-6_4761).