If you were small enough to fit inside an ant nest, you would hear it as much as you would see it. The walls shiver with tiny footsteps. The ground carries constant vibration. In that crowded, dark ...

Some families of caterpillars (larvae of butterflies and moths) have developed a specific kind of interaction with ants. One of these families (Riodinidae) includes two species that interact solely ...

Researchers have investigated the communication between two insect species, and what they discovered seems straight out of Tarzan. Some butterfly caterpillars vibrate in an unexpectedly complex ...

Many caterpillars in the gossamer-winged butterfly family are “myrmecophilous,” or ant-loving. These larvae have evolved close relationships with ants, including pavement ants, in the genus ...

Research from the University of Warwick has revealed that butterfly caterpillars use sophisticated rhythmic signals to communicate with ants, helping them gain protection, food, and access to ant ...

Certain crafty caterpillars have an unusual approach to ensuring they live long enough to become a butterfly: each convinces an ant to carry it into the ant’s nest, providing food and shelter. Now ...

And that’s just a sample of how those eternally busy ants are closely involved with many other species! There is much more complexity to all these examples than this space allows, and I encourage ...