Myrmecophiles

Myrmecophiles may occupy a variety of ecological niches within their host ant colony. Some consume waste materials in the nests, such as dead ants, dead larvae, or fungi growing in the nest. A few feed on external secretions of ants and some are fed directly by their host ants. Some myrmecophiles feed on the stored food supplies of ants, and a few are predatory on ant eggs, larvae, pupae or even adults. Others benefit the ants by providing a food source for them. Many myrmecophilous relationships are obligate, meaning one or the other participant requires the relationship for survival. Some associations are facultative, benefiting one or both participants but not being necessary to their survival. Many myrmecophiles await discovery and for many the nature of the relationship with their host is unknown.



Myrmecophilidae
There are five genera of ant-loving crickets in this family and around 100 species. World-wide in distribution, many species are found with different species and genera of ant hosts. Many ant hosts are still unknown. All species are relatively small, wingless and flattened. These crickets do not produce sound and lack wings. There are no tympanal organs on the front tibia.

Hypselosyrphus
Found in Mexico, host ants are Pachycondyla

Rhopalosyrphus
The larvae feed as scavengers in the nests of ants, Pseudomyrmecinae. There are three native species from the southern United States to northern Argentina.

Paussinae (subfamily)
Paussinae have a predominantly pan-tropical distribution. They comprise about 800 species.

Heteropaussus
There are 26 species in this myrmecophilous genus

Homopterus
A myrmecophilous genus of 12 species from South and Central America.

Eopaussus Wasmann, 1926
The genera of the Paussidae of the Baltic amber. Zool Anz 68(1/2): 25-30. A single species, Eopaussus balticus from Baltic Amber.

Euplatyrhopalus Desneux, 1905
There are seven species in this myrmecophilous genus of Carabidae.

Lebioderus Westwood, 1838
The genus Lebioderus Westwood, 1938, belongs to the subtribe Platyrhopalina Jeannel, 1946, of the tribe Paussini Latreille, 1807, and is represented by nine species from Southeast Asia, including Indonesia [Jawa (Java), Sumatera (Sumatra), and Kalimantan], Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia), and the Philippines (Luzon) (Luna de Carvalho, 1987).

Paussoides
Paussoides mengei is found in Prussian amber.

Paussopsis
There are two extinct species in this genus from the Lower Oligocene, Florissant, Colorado.

Paussus Linnaeus, 1775
A most species-rich genus with about 350 described species, all are assumed to have an obligatory symbiosis with ants. In this symbiosis the beetles provide rewarding chemical secretions to their host ants and in return receive protection, a safe place for their vulnerable larvae to develop and a reliable source of protein-rich food: the ants, particularly the brood.

Platyrhopalus Westwood, 1838
There are sixteen species in this genus.

Endomychidae
Endomychidae includes a number of species closely associated with social insects, particularly ants and termites. Wasmann (1894) listed 11 endomychids associated with ants. Price and Young (2007) noted the close proximity of adults of Rhanidea unicolor to a colony of Lasius ants, although no direct association was inferred. Myrmecophily is the most common form of social insect inquilinism among endomychids; however, termitophilous and melittophilous species are also known. Endomychids have also been recovered from birds' nests.

Histeridae
Histeridae is worldwide in distribution with just under 4,300 known species, grouped into about 350 genera. It reaches its highest diversity in the tropics. Both subfamilies Chlamydopsinae, mainly distributed in southern Asia, Pacific, and Australia, and Haeteriinae contain myrmeco- or termitophilous species. It is accepted that myrmecophiles feed on the larvae of ants or other insects or even regurgitated food from the host ants (Lapeva-Gjonova, 2013).

Chlamysopsinae
A myrmecophilous subfamily

Haeteriinae
A myrmecophilous subfamily

Aritaerius
A myrmecophilous genus found in Arizona and Mexico. Host ants are unknown.

Hippeutister
A myrmecophilous genus of six species found in North, Central, and South America. This genus is found in the nest of Solenopsis.

Pinaxister
A myrmecophilous genus found with Pheidole ants.

Renclasea
This is a myrmecophilous genus of six species. Neivamyrmex is the probable host ant.

Satrapes
This Palearctic genus of five species is characterized by its elongate and subcylindrical shape, short, very wide tibia, and triangular labrum. They live in ant nests of several genera including Lasius, Aphaenogaster, Formica, and Tetramorium.

Sternocoelis
The genus Sternocoelis Lewis, 1888 is a small genus of myrmecophilous histerids with 27 described species distributed in the Mediterranean area with most species described from Morocco and Algeria.

Terapus
There are fourteen species in this myrmecophilous genus of New World Histeridae. The host ant is the genus Pheidole.

Ulkeus
There are six species in this myrmecophilous genus of Histeridae.

Kaszabister
There are four species in this myrmecophilous genus that live in the nests of Solenopsis

Clinterocera
There are thirty-two species from China and adjacent regions; host ant Liometopum.

Drusilla

 * Drusilla sparsa / Crematogaster osakensis

Lomechusini

 * Currently there are 207 genera and 2205 species or subspecies.
 * Subtribe Lomechusina (all members are strict myrmecophiles with 3 genera and 40 species)

Fustiger
There are three species in this myrmecophilous genus.

Scydmaeninae
There are one hundred-seventeen species in twenty genera associated with 45 species of ants in twenty-eight different genera.

Lycaenidae

 * Lepidoptera / Butterflies
 * Phengaris (=Maculinea) (Lycaenidae) - Sielezniew et al. (2015) - Caterpillars develop on specific host plants (depending on species: Thymus or Origanum, Gentiana and Sanguisorba) and complete their development inside the nests of specific red ants (Myrmica sp.) as social parasites feeding on the hosts’ brood, or being fed by trophallaxis (Thomas, 1995).
 * ant hosts
 * Myrmica schencki host of Mountain Alcon Blue (Phengaris rebeli) - fairly well studied association, see M. schencki species page
 * Myrmica lonae host of Large Blue (Phengaris arion)

Mites
Organisms that use ants for dispersal.
 * Mites (Acari)

Collembola
Springtails