Myrmecophilus americanus

Myrmecophilus americanus is an ant cricket, a wingless cricket that is an obligate parasite of ants and lives in their nests.

Myrmecophilus americanus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Ensifera
Family: Myrmecophilidae
Genus: Myrmecophilus
Species:
M. americanus
Binomial name
Myrmecophilus americanus
Saussure, 1877

It is found living in the nest of the longhorn crazy ant (Paratrechina longicornis) and is kleptoparasitic on it, feeding on food scraps brought back by the workers and encouraging them to regurgitate food. It may be assisted in this symbiosis by mimicry as it resembles the gaster of the ant queen in both size and shape. Although it seems to be largely host specific, it has on at least one occasion been found in the nest of another species of ant, and other members of the genus Myrmecophilus have multiple host species.[1]

References

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  1. ^ Wetterer, James K.; Hugel, Sylvain (2008). "Worldwide Spread of the Ant Cricket Myrmecophilus americanus, a Symbiont of the Longhorn Crazy Ant, Paratrechina longicornis". Sociobiology. 52 (1): 157–165. ISSN 0361-6525.