ANT-HOMOPTERA INTERACTION - DO ALTERNATIVE SUGAR SOURCES DISTRACT TENDING ANTS

In the present study we tested whether ants (Camponotus spp.) would stop tending honeydew-producing membracids (Guayaquila xiphias) when an alternative sugar source was available on the host plant (Didymopanax vinosum). Results show that the discovery of an alternate sugar source (simulated extrafloral nectaries) did not provoke desertion by ants. Instead, tending of Guayaquila aggregations continued nearly the same as ant visitation to the honey solution increased steadily within the same period. An increase in the honeydew flow rate by Guayaquila aggregations probably explains why ant tending levels remained unchanged in the presence of an alternate sugar source. The current experimental study and available field evidence from cerrado vegetation do not support the prediction that ants would neglect honeydew-producing homopterans in the presence of extrafloral nectaries.