Indoors or outdoors, at a picnic or in the garden, ants are an unwelcome sight. When working in the garden, we find that, unlike many other garden insects, they don’t necessarily retreat when we ...

What is myrmecophily? It represents an important interaction in nature. The word can be split into two parts: myrmex and ...

Ant–plant mutualisms constitute a compelling model of coevolution, whereby plants have evolved specialised structures, notably extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), to entice ants that in turn afford ...

Could ants get any cooler? These amazing insects have been known to create rafts and bridges with their bodies and tend to vast fungus gardens. Now, a new study suggests they have also been farming ...

Humans began cultivating crops about 12,000 years ago. Ants have been at it rather longer. Leafcutter ants, the best-known insect farmers, belong to a lineage of insects that have been running fungus ...

Carnivorous plants can have valuable allies in ants, benefiting from their poop and janitor, bodyguard and cutthroat services, researchers say. However, N. bicalcarata does apparently have unusual ...

Plants are boring. They just sit there photosynthesizing while animals have all the fun. Right? Not so much. Take a look at the interactions between ants and plants--plants have evolved features ...

For plant species that depend on animal-mediated pollination, reproduction hinges on adequate access to pollinators. Even in the presence of intact pollinator assemblages, negative interactions among ...

Visible ants in your home "are a symptom, not the problem," one pest expert says.

Research has demonstrated that millions of years of ant agriculture has remodeled plant physiology. Farming ants deposit nitrogen-rich feces directly inside plants, which has led to the evolution of ...

Plants have evolved ways to make ants defend them from attacks and spread their seeds, and this new study shows how it happened. In a new study breaking down the genetic history of 1,700 species of ...