Have you seen the moving Bugs Life? Well, I have kids and work in pest control, so I have absolutely seen the movie with my kids! And in the movie, the queen ant has a pet aphid. I know that there are several species of ant that eat honeydew, a sticky sweet secretion, produced by aphids.
I had heard that there are ants that "farm" aphids. I went looking around to see what the research says and came across a really interesting article. Apparently ants not only bite off the wings of aphids to subdue and keep them close, but they also have a chemical that is released from their feet. This chemical was once thought just to mark territory, but the new research has found that it blocks aphid wing growth and slows them down-- allowing the ants to herd the aphids and keep their food source near by.
Here is a link to the article-- it's a little on the dry side, but if you can get past that, it is very informative.
Herding Aphids: How 'Farmer' Ants Keep Control Of Their Food
Insects are very interesting! For all of you gardeners out there, if you have ants and aphids together... Now you have an idea of why they're both there! The ants are keeping the aphids-- it's like an ant aphid ranch.
If you have plain old ants in your house that come in after rains to feast on your kitchen sugars because their aphid honeydew has been washed away, please contact Peak Pest Management.
Micah Wood
Peak Pest Management
peak-pest-management.com
micah@peak-pest-management.com
503-998-4322
360-607-1933
Text a Tech 503-369-4623
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