在自然界，植物和动物共生的现象比比皆是。法国科研人员通过长期观察，最新揭示了阿兹特克蚂蚁和西哥罗佩树的共生原理。

西哥罗佩树是法属圭亚那常见的一个树种，它与一种名为阿兹特克的树蚁保持着“相依为命”的关系，前者为后者提供居所和部分食物，而后者则帮助前者抵御“强敌”。

法国科研人员发现，西哥罗佩树的枝叶背面具有黏性，能够牢牢黏住阿兹特克工蚁的爪子，就这样，大批工蚁“埋伏”在叶子的边缘，等待猎物上钩。叶子的超强黏力可以让蚂蚁毫无后顾之忧，甚至抓到体重远远超过自己的昆虫。

这项研究由法国国家科研中心的团队完成。研究成果已发表在最新一期美国PLoS ONE上。

原文出处：

PLoS ONE doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011331

Arboreal Ants Use the “Velcro ®  Principle” to Capture Very Large Prey
Alain Dejean1*, Céline Leroy1, Bruno Corbara2,3, Olivier Roux1, Régis Céréghino4,5, Jér?me Orivel1, Rapha?l Boulay6,7

1 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, écologie des Forêts de Guyane (UMR-CNRS 8172), Campus Agronomique, Kourou, France, 2 Clermont Université, Université Blaise Pascal, BP 10448, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 3 CNRS, UMR 6023, Laboratoire Microorganismes: Génome et Environnement, Aubière, France, 4 CNRS, EcoLab (Laboratoire d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle), Toulouse, France, 5 Université de Toulouse, UPS, INPT, EcoLab, Toulouse, France, 6 Estación Biológica de Do?ana, CSIC, Sevilla, Spain, 7 Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

Plant-ants live in a mutualistic association with host plants known as “myrmecophytes” that provide them with a nesting place and sometimes with extra-floral nectar (EFN) and/or food bodies (FBs); the ants can also attend sap-sucking Hemiptera for their honeydew. In return, plant-ants, like most other arboreal ants, protect their host plants from defoliators. To satisfy their nitrogen requirements, however, some have optimized their ability to capture prey in the restricted environment represented by the crowns of trees by using elaborate hunting techniques. In this study, we investigated the predatory behavior of the ant Azteca andreae which is associated with the myrmecophyte Cecropia obtusa. We noted that up to 8350 ant workers per tree hide side-by-side beneath the leaf margins of their host plant with their mandibles open, waiting for insects to alight. The latter are immediately seized by their extremities, and then spread-eagled; nestmates are recruited to help stretch, carve up and transport prey. This group ambush hunting technique is particularly effective when the underside of the leaves is downy, as is the case for C. obtusa. In this case, the hook-shaped claws of the A. andreae workers and the velvet-like structure of the underside of the leaves combine to act like natural Velcro? that is reinforced by the group ambush strategy of the workers, allowing them to capture prey of up to 13,350 times the mean weight of a single worker.