CATERPILLARS MAKE NOISES LIKE ANTS

Abstract

*[Ants primarily use chemical communication to identify themselves as members of the colony & to indicate their reproductive status. This system can be exploited by parasites, which imitate the chemicals produced by the ants & thereby gain access to the nest. In the case of the caterpillar of the Maculinea rebeli butterfly, the mimicry is so precise that Myrmica schencki that come across a caterpillar will pick it up & bring it back to the nest, as though it was an ant larva.]