Open access journal: http://periodicos.uefs.br/ojs/index.php/sociobiology
ISSN: 0361-6525

DOI: 10.13102/sociobiology.v64i1.1199Sociobiology 64(1): 119-121 (March, 2017)

Kick Out The Ants: A Novel and Striking Behavior in Ant-Wasp Interactions

Mutualism is an interaction where two organisms obtain 
higher reproductive success when together than would if they 
lived without such relationship. Mutualism is clearly profitable 
for both parts and it is known as an important interaction for 
survival (Stefani et al., 2015; Del-Claro et al., 2016). There are 
many forms of mutualism in nature, for instance, the widely 
known case of the trophobiosis observed between ants and 
hemipterans (Del-Claro & Oliveira, 1999; Styrsky& Eubanks., 
2007). This relationship is based on the hymenopteran use of 
honeydew, a sweet flavored, carbohydrate rich substance that is 
excreted by sap sucking insects. The honeydew is exploited as a 
food resource by ants, which establish a mutualistic relationship 
with the hemipterans by offering protection in exchange (Del-
Claro & Oliveira, 2000).

Wasps can also use honeydew as a food resource 
(Letourneau & Choe, 1987). Therefore, competition between 
ants and wasps for access to hemipterans may occur. Wasps 
establish a foraging territory and exclude ants that attempt 
to disrupt this exploitative interaction (Dejean & Turillazzi, 

Abstract 
Trophobiosis between ants and Hemiptera is widely known. Nevertheless, 
this interaction can also happen between hemipterans and other animals in a 
non-mutualistic way. For instance, here we observed the wasp Pseudopolybia 
vespiceps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) collecting honeydew flickered by Aethalion 
reticulatum (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha) as an alternative food resource. 
Field work was conducted during three consecutive days, when we made ad 
libitum behavioral observations using video footage. We noted the behavior 
of P. vespiceps when collecting honeydew from A. reticulatum. Strikingly, our 
observations resulted in the description of novel wasp behavior. The wasps 
compete with ants for access to hemipterans, first by hovering above the 
ants, and kicking them out of the plant, until all the ants were removed, 
and start antennating the aethalionids to obtain honeydew. Studies like 
this contribute to the understanding of trophic networks that depend on 
hemipteran honeydew.

Sociobiology
An international journal on social insects

LS Ricioli, G Mendes, R Guillermo-Ferreira

Article History

Edited by
Jean Santos, UFU, Brazil
Received                   28 September 2016
Initial acceptance    07 December 2016
Final acceptance      27 January 2017
Publication date      29 May 2017

Keywords 
Kleptoparasitism, mutualism, foraging, 
competition, savannah, Brazil.

Corresponding author
Rhainer Guillermo-Ferreira. 
Universidade Federal de São Carlos
Departamento de Hidrobiologia 
Rodovia Washington Luis, Km 235 
CEP 13565-905, São Carlos-SP, Brasil 
E-Mail: rhainerguillermo@gmail.com

1992). In this case, wasps are benefited with the resource 
exploration while there is no mutualistic relationship with 
the hemipterans. The opportunistic foraging, also known as 
kleptobiosis (or kleptoparasitism), is a behavior observed 
in social wasps, which steal the resource during foraging 
(Grangier & Lester, 2011; Breed et al., 2012).

In this study, we observed the interaction between 
Camponotus crassus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and Aethalion 
reticulatum (Linnaeus, 1767) (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha) 
on Crecopiapa chystachya Trécul (Urticaceae), where ants 
collected the honeydew from the hemipterans in exchange for 
protection (Oliveira & Del-Claro, 1999). More surprisingly, 
we observed the exploitation of this interaction by the wasp 
Pseudopolybia vespiceps (de Saussure, 1854) (Hymenoptera: 
Vespidae, Polistinae), which, besides collecting the honeydew 
and not protecting the hemipteran, kick the ants out of the 
plant using their forelegs while hovering.

Field work was conducted in the Federal University of 
São Carlos Campus in São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil, during 

Department of Hydrobiology, Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil

SHORT NOTE 



LS Ricioli, G Mendes, R Guillermo-Ferreira – A striking behavior in a wasp-ant interaction120

three consecutive days in March 2016. We made ad libitum 
behavioral observations using video footage (Fuji Finepix 
HS10). We noted the behavior of P. vespiceps when collecting 
honeydew from A. reticulatum and excluding ant competitors. 
The observations were carried out between 10:00AM and 
02:00PM.

While the ants were attending the hemipterans (Fig 1a), 
P. vespiceps wasps hovered in circles around the ants and stroke 
them with the forelegs (supplementary video 1) and landed on 
the hemipterans (Fig 1b). This behavior started when the wasps 
flew up, stretched the forelegs and flew down towards the 
ants, which fell from the plant (Fig. 1c, N =12). Moreover, the 
hemipterans did not remain inert. The hemipterans attempted 
to use their hind legs to hit and avoid the wasp, without 
success. When the wasps had removed most of the ants, the 
wasps landed on the hemipterans and started to antennate their 
abdomen (supplementary video 2). Ants and wasps exhibit this 
tactile stimulus that leads the hemipterans to flick a droplet of 
honeydew (Styrsky & Eubanks, 2007), however, the wasp did 
not appear to focus on a specific area, antennating all along the 
hemipteran body. The wasp spent around 30 seconds hovering 
in circles and kicking the ants off the plant, and 26.5 seconds 
(N=2) antennating the hemipterans. The interactions occurred 
in the lower surface of the leaf, close to the petiole.

This wasp-hemipteran interaction is usually considered 
non-mutualistic, but a parasitism. Differently from the ant-
hemipteran interaction, the wasps provide no protection to the 
hemipterans. Thus, the wasps only parasitize the ant-hemipteran 
interaction and exploit the resource without further costs.  

Furthermore, the wasps may imply costs to hemipterans 
because the interaction with ants is interrupted by force and 
because the honeydew is lost in a non-profitable interaction. 
However, although this interaction apparently only benefits 
wasp, another study suggests that wasps may defend a territory 
around hemipterans (Dejean & Turillazzi, 1992). In this case, 
although wasp protection may not be as effective as it would 
be with ants, wasps may ultimately provide an indirect benefit 
to hemipterans.

The ant-hemipteran interaction is no novelty. The 
same mutualism is very usual in nature between ants and 
aphids (Stadler & Dixon, 2005) and lepidopteran larvae 
(Kaminski et al., 2013). Wasp-hemipteran interactions can also 
be commonly found (Letorneau & Choe, 1987; MacCarroll 
& Reeves, 2004), however, the interference behavior adopted 
by wasps is rarely reported (Dejean & Turillazzi, 1992). As a 
rare case, Vespula vulgaris wasps pick ant workers with their 
mandibles, fly backwards and drop them far from the food 
resource (Grangier & Lester, 2011). The interaction between 
C. crassus and P. vespiceps can be considered an exploitative 
interaction, where wasps exclude ant competitors and exploit 
a coevolutionary trait of ant-hemipteran interactions.

Several insect species have been reported to collect 
honeydew from A. reticulatum, such as the stingless bees 
Trigona branneri (Barônio et al., 2012), T. spinipes (Vieira et 
al., 2007), T. hyalinata (Oda et al., 2009), Oxytrigona tataira 
(Hymenoptera: Apidae, Meliponini) (Oda et al., 2014), and 
Camponotus crassus ants (Brown, 1975). Here we show 
the case of P. vespiceps, which is a species considered an 
indicator of high conservation status of riparian forests (de 
Souza et al., 2010). Therefore, we suggest that Hemiptera-
hymenopteran interactions in the Brazilian Cerrado may be 
an important factor for insect conservation and maintenance 
of ecological processes (Styrsky & Eubanks, 2007).

Acknowledgments

We thank Ana Paula Guaratini, Aline Mandelli, Diogo 
Silva Vilela and Gustavo Rincon Mazão for valuable comments 
in the initial version of the manuscript. We thank Fernando 
Barbosa Noll for wasp RGF thanks CNPq and FAPESP for 
constant financial support.

Suppplementary material

Video 1
http://dx.doi.org/10.13.102/sociobiology.v64i1.1199.s1374
h t t p : / / p e r i o d i c o s . u e f s . b r / i n d e x . p h p / s o c i o b i o l o g y / r t /
suppFileMetadata/1199/0/1374

Vídeo 2
http://dx.doi.org/10.13.102/sociobiology.v64i1.1199.s1375
h t t p : / / p e r i o d i c o s . u e f s . b r / i n d e x . p h p / s o c i o b i o l o g y / r t /
suppFileMetadata/1199/0/1375

Fig 1. (a) Camponotus crassus ants, and (b) Pseudopolybia vespiceps 
wasps collecting honeydew from Aethalion reticulatum, and (c) 
kicking ants out of the plant.



Sociobiology 64(1): 119-121 (March, 2017) 121

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