Homopteran Attendance by Wasps and Ants: The Stochastic Nature of Interactions

Abstract

Associations of Hymenoptera with Homoptera have intrigued ecologists and evolutionary biologists as model systems of mutualism. The extensive body of literature, however, tends to be skewed to the interactions between ants and homopteran trophobionts in the Aphidae or Coccoidea (e.g., Kloft et al. 1965, Nixon 1951, Way 1963, Wilson 1971). In the following account we document a web of multispecies interactions within and between trophic levels, involving a species of wasp, several species of ants, and two species of Homoptera. This account is unique in the literature on Hymenoptera-Homoptera associations because it (1) addresses observable interference between hymenopteran attendants, (2) reports behavioral preference by homopterans for certain hymenopteran attendants, and (3) describes an interaction between a polistine wasp and an aetalionid planthopper. In addition, this study has general implications about the quality of diffuse and multiple associations between Homoptera and their honeydew foragers. © 1987, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.