Hello Steemit friends,
yesterday i was around our river Mulde in Zwickau with my son Leon and did a shot of a twig populated by these black aphids. As you can see there are numerous ants in between. The one in the middle is posing like a guard. After researching that penomenon i revealed exciting facts of this peaceful coexistence.
photo by author, Sony A6000 with SEL55210
For plant lovers these aphids are annoying little beasts. They appear in great numbers and use their proboscis to sting in young shoots and leaves to suck the sweet sap only to get a small amount of protein to survive. The remaining syrup also called honeydew is excreted in great amounts and covers now the leaves and twigs which the ants love. They are so crazy about that they protect the aphids from their natural enemies like the ladybug. To get the honeydew a bit quicker the ants stroking and pressing the abdomen of the aphids, like milking a cow!
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see also my other posts
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unmarked pictures/animation from giphy.com, pixabay.com