Site icon THE FIGS OF BORNEO

Ficus lepicarpa and insect farming ants

uluulublog

ABOVE: Ficus lepicarpa in the Crocker Range, Sabah. Large black ants were farming scale insects at the base of the new leaves .

Two small groups of scale insects  are outlined by the red circles. Several different species of ants farm several different species of sap sucking insects on the figs of Borneo. The ants transport the sap sucking insects from one plant to another, normally placing them on new growth with a plentiful supply of sap.

All photographs were  taken of this very large Ficus lepicarpa  shrub growing at c. 800m next to the Kota Kinabalu to Tambunan Road which crosses the northern end of the Crocker Range Park in Sabah.

Linus Gokusing photographing a fruiting branch of Ficus lepicarpa

 

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