File:Ant garden c irritabilis F2.jpg

Drawing by Winfried Noll, Bruchkoebel, Germany.

Fig. 2. Development of C. irritabilis ant-garden. (a) Nest walls were built by the workers around a branch. (b) A spherical pavilion was constructed from soil- and wooden particles (3 x 2 cm). The settlement of H. elliptica in the nests of C. irritabilis occurs in two ways: (c) Seeds incorporated during nest building germinated within two days. The seedling reaches a length of 3.5 cm within 17 days and the roots covered and penetrate the new nest material (d) (1) Shoots and (2) matured H. elliptica with their origin in other nest buildings reached the new nest pavilion and finally small rootlets infiltrated the whole nest. The workers incorporated additional materials and nutrients (e.g. bird droppings, insect fragments) on the nest surface, which were penetrated by the roots and resulted in growing nests. (3) Built-in seeds of H. elliptica germinate within the nest. (4) The workers remove partly rootlets and form chambers and create nest entrances.

Weissflog A, Kaufmann E and Ulrich Maschwitz. 2017. Ant gardens of Camponotus (Myrmotarsus) irritabilis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) and Hoya elliptica (Apocynaceae) in Southeast Asia. Asian Myrmecology 9: e009001:1-16. doi:10.20362/am.009001