Site icon THE FIGS OF BORNEO

Ficus brunneoaurata and insect farming ants.

uluulublog

Ficus brunneoaurata at Bukit Taviu Forest Reserve in Central Sabah. Note the distinctive reddish stipule which easily distinguishes this fig from Ficus aurata and Ficus fulva which have greenish stipules.

F. brunneoaurata  is frequently recorded  growing on ultramafic soils such as Bukit Taviu.

It would appear that a colony of small black ants are “farming” this Ficus brunneoaurata fig with scale insects. The insects feed on the latex of the fig and the ants feed on the wax produced by the insects.

The Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan Road runs through the Bukit Taviu Forest Reserve in the hills of central Sabah. The small Ficus brunneoaurata  tree is by the roadside in the middle of the photo.
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