Ants tending scales or aphids?

Moved

… Chuck Entz, 19 April, 2008 - 7:03pm

Moved

… Chuck Entz, 2 April, 2007 - 1:24am

Checkout whitefly nymphs

In the SF Bay area there are several species of white fly nymphs that secrete this type of waxy exudate over their exterior. Google crown whitefly images

… Bob Case, 13 November, 2006 - 1:05am

Probably not whiteflies

Whitefly nymphs actually lose their legs and become fixed to the host- these critters have legs and look mobile

… Chuck Entz, 13 November, 2006 - 3:07am

Ants tending scales or aphids? Probably not whiteflies.

Chuck, did you checkout the web images of crown whitefly? The nymphs in the submitted photo have no visible legs and are not very mobile. The white "legs/appendeges" (in the submitted photo) are not jointed. They are actually waxy exudate secreted by glands located between segments. The rudimentary legs of whitefly nymphs are hidden under the exoskeleton. Bob Case

… Bob Case, 13 November, 2006 - 12:51pm

Look again

There are several of them where legs/antennae are clearly present. The ones in the upper left-hand corner on the other side of the leaf midrib are most obvious.

And yes, I've seen images of crown whiteflies. I had some unidentified white things that I believe to have been crown whiteflies, so I looked long and hard at every image I could find. It's been a while, but I seem to remember them having radial symmetry (like a wheel), while these are definitely elongated.

… Chuck Entz, 13 November, 2006 - 8:29pm

Look again

Well you have better eyes and a better monitor than I have. There are legs on these critters! The legs still look like whitefly legs to me and the wax keeps bringing me back to maybe first instar whitefly nymphs of some kind. I have given up trying to figure this one out. The image has been sent to two professional entomologists to mull over.

… Bob Case, 14 November, 2006 - 12:42am

I really have no clue

There are quite a few species in the same order that have wax: aphids:

, adelgids:

, psyllids, and others. I'm no expert, so I'm fully prepared to be wrong. Here's my image that I think is crown whitefly:

I googled crown whitefly and found only one image so far. The wax seems to form strips or ribbons rather than puffy structures like on this one. Looking through the guide I found another candidate that has legs in spite of being in the scale superfamily:

I sure hope someone figures this one out!

… Chuck Entz, 14 November, 2006 - 7:31am

Some added pictures

I located the three original photo files and have added a 100% crop of the best focus area of each.

… Mark Dreiling, 14 November, 2006 - 8:02am

WOW!

I didn't even notice the 'legs/antennae'! Thanks for pointing that out! What strange creatures...I am looking forward to seeing what it is discovered that they are.

… Tzila "Z" Duenzl, 13 November, 2006 - 9:31pm

Fantastic pic!

I can't help with ID, but just wanted to say how great this pic is!

… Tzila "Z" Duenzl, 9 November, 2006 - 3:48pm

Thought They Were Scales...

as well, at first glance, but looking more closely, I wonder if these aren't mealybugs with elaborate cottony 'coats' of some kind...a couple of them seem to have retained a hint of the usual 'segmented' appearance these 'bugs' have, right at the one end. Sap-suckers of some sort, anyway, and whether scale insects, mealybugs or aphids, they all secrete a 'honeydew' that ants relish as a reliable, prime source of high-energy food. Depending on the species involved and just how much said food is valued, the ants in turn may go so far as to protect the honeydew-excretors from predators, move them around to better 'pastures', and even overwinter their eggs and/or young in their nests. Ants that nest around the roots of plants may also permanently house sap-sucking insects underground that feed on those roots...we've got some Lasius alienus ants in the gardens at work, for example, that make real pests of themselves like this just because of all those fat blue flower root-sucking aphids they like to tend...

PS: Just from the upside-down look of their abdomens, I'm guessing that the ants in your photo are acrobat ants (Crematogaster genus), by the way. Most pest sites, like the one at terminix.com, mention that these ants 'are partial to the sweet honeydew produced by aphids, scales and mealybugs'.

… Heimchen, 8 July, 2006 - 6:03am

Probably not scales...

They tend to become stationary and lose their legs pretty quickly. Aphids would seem to be a good possibility, but they aren't the only insects tended by ants that develop a waxy coating like this. Unless the waxy pattern is distinctive for a particular insect, it may not be possible to pin down the ID- the diagnostic features are buried under a lot of wax.

Of course, I'm no expert, so I could be wrong.

… Chuck Entz, 7 July, 2006 - 10:28pm

What sort of benefit?

What sort of benefit is gained by the ants and the aphids? While I've seen ants tending other insects, the ants get something in return like sugar secretions (I think) or some other food benefit. Is this what is going on here as well?

… Gerry Bunker, 7 July, 2006 - 11:21pm

moving

since ants were ID'ed (on one of the other photos of this series) as being Crematogaster sp., and since no definitive ID on the other sp. here has been obtained, I'm moving to Crematogaster for now.

… Ethan Friedman, 1 April, 2007 - 6:36pm

Disagree

All the suggested IDs are Sternorrhyncha, so they can be safely moved there. For that matter, Don Chandler's ID of Ortheziidae is possibly solid enough to move them there.

Moving to Crematogaster hides these from any specialist who might be able to make an ID.

… Chuck Entz, 2 April, 2007 - 1:27am