myrmecophyte
Sign in to saveupright=1.35|thumb|Pseudomyrmex ferruginea ants on a myrmecophyte tree, [[Vachellia cornigera, the bullhorn acacia of Central America]]
Article
15 sectionsContents
- Mutualism
- Obligate
- Facultative
- Structural adaptations
- Domatia
- Food bodies
- Extrafloral nectaries
- Ant-plant interactions
- Ants as pollinators
- Ants and seed dispersal
- Ants feeding plants
- Ants as defense
- See also
- References
- Sources
upright=1.35|thumb|Pseudomyrmex ferruginea ants on a myrmecophyte tree, [[Vachellia cornigera, the bullhorn acacia of Central America]]
Myrmecophytes (; literally "ant-plant") are plants that live in a mutualistic association with a colony of ants. There are over 100 different genera of myrmecophytes. These plants possess structural adaptations in the form of domatia where ants can shelter, and food bodies and extrafloral nectaries that provide ants with food. In exchange for these resources, ants aid the myrmecophyte in pollination, seed dispersal, gathering of essential nutrients, and defense. Domatia adapted specifically to ants may be called myrmecodomatia.