2026/04/01 by Mark W. Moffett · 2 voices
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Psychology · #Desert (philosophy) #Fish <Actinopterygii> #Fossil Insects in Amber #General partnership #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Nest (protein structural motif) #Primate Behavior and Ecology
paper · doi:10.1002/ece3.73308
openalex publication_date 2026/04/01 · openalex created_date 2026/04/14 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
ABSTRACT I give an account of the first known example of an ant (i.e., an undescribed Dorymyrmex ) that licks and nips the much larger workers of a different ant species ( Pogonomyrmex barbatus ) in a manner remarkably parallel to the actions of cleaner fish that clean other species of fish. Specifically, the potentially aggressive individuals being tended encourage these attentions by stationing themselves in a distinctive, rigid posture at particular locations (in the case of the ant, near the nest of the cleaner species) and even permit a cleaner to inspect between their open mandibles. The payoffs of this activity for both the cleaners and the tended workers have yet to be worked out.