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 55 herbivores of ant-acacias DHJanzen100137.jpg high resolution
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| Who are the herbivores that appear to eat the leaves, green thorns, and stems of the ant-acacia cleaned of its acacia-ant colony, and more interestingly, where do they come from? In the image, a katydid (Tettigoniidae) is eating a green thorn. Other herbivores are other katydids, grasshoppers (Acrididae), bugs (primarily Pentatomidae, Coreidae), beetles (Chrysomelidae, Scarabaeidae, Buprestidae, Cerambycidae), and caterpillars (Saturniidae, Noctuidae, Geometridae, Notodontidae, Gelechiidae, Elachistidae). Where do they come from? These are herbivores that normally (often) feed on other mimosoid Fabaceae in the same dry forest (and desert edge) habitat. The ant-acacia has the same attractive cues as their usual (related) food plants but now does not have the usual defense (the ants). This is an important consideration in evaluating such an experiment as described earlier. If that same experiment is performed in a more rainforest (wet) ecosystem, fewer individuals and fewer species of insects appear who will eat a mimosoid legume (Fabaceae), since rainforest habitats are not rich in the distant or close relatives of Acacia. This means that the wetter the habitat, the longer it takes to get dramatic results with the removal of the ants, if ONLY herbivores are considered. | ||
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