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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Ants (Formicoidea) » Ants (Formicidae) » Myrmicinae » Solenopsidini » Pharaoh and Timid Ants (Monomorium) » Little Black Ant (Monomorium minimum)
Photo#450976
Small Black Ants and Caterpillar - Monomorium minimum - female
Copyright © 2010 G.K. Gerber

Small Black Ants and Caterpillar - Monomorium minimum - Female
Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia, USA
September 3, 2010
Size: ~2 mm
These small black ants were working busily around the rear end of the caterpillar. They did not seem to be bothering the caterpillar at all. The caterpillar has been identified as a Grey Hairstreak.

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Small Black Ants and Caterpillar - Monomorium minimum - female Small Black Ants and Caterpillar - Monomorium minimum - female
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Contributed by G.K. Gerber on 4 September, 2010 - 1:40am
Last updated 10 September, 2010 - 11:04am

Moved
Moved from Ants.
… James C. Trager, 10 September, 2010 - 11:04am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Gray Hairstreak.
… G.K. Gerber, 5 September, 2010 - 2:37pm login or register to post comments

 
Unlinked
Ants unlinked from the Grey Hairstreak caterpillar. Also, MrILoveTheAnts has suggested Monomorium minimum as an identification for the ants in the comments on the caterpiller.
… G.K. Gerber, 5 September, 2010 - 2:59pm login or register to post comments

 
I agree with MrILTA - [i]Mono
I agree with MrILTA - Monomorium minimum.
Nice to catch this mutualistic interaction "on film". This ant commonly tends aphid, etc. and visits extrafloral nectaries, so not a surprise, but still I've never observed them with a lycaenid caterpillar in 40+ years of ant observation.
… James C. Trager, 10 September, 2010 - 11:03am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… G.K. Gerber, 5 September, 2010 - 2:27pm login or register to post comments

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