Because aphids are protected by ants, they can effectively avoid predators. In nature, there is a caterpillar that can also rely on the protection of ants to obtain a chance to survive. Of course, like aphids, they have to pay protection fees for the ants, and the price is to feed the ants through the sweet juice they secrete!
This caterpillar is the larvae of the family Grey Butterfly.
There are more than 6,000 species of butterflies in the grey butterfly family, of which about 75% of the butterflies of the grey butterfly family are cared for by ants in the larval stage and even live in ant nests. When they are eating, there is always a group of ants around these caterpillars, and if there is an enemy approaching, the ants will rush up and drive them away. At night, the caterpillars would return to their nests under the protection of the ants, tantamount to hiring a group of dutiful bodyguards.
But for ants, the care of the caterpillars of the gray butterfly family does not come from their nature, but from the call of the caterpillars to the ants. Don't look at the gray butterfly caterpillar and ants are not a species, but they can communicate with ants and make ants follow their own arrangements. It turns out that there are two small papillae on these caterpillars, which emit special frequency vibration pulses when gently tapping the surface of the object, and this pulse is very similar to the pulse of communication between ants, which is equivalent to the caterpillar using the language of ants to communicate with ants. Ants that receive pulse waves will come to the caterpillar to fulfill their responsibilities of protection, and of course, in return, the caterpillar will secrete sweet juice for the ants to eat. Many times, under the influence of this pulse, the ants will keep the caterpillar safe until the caterpillars become cocoons into butterflies.
The caterpillars that live in the nest will stay in the nest for a while after coming out of the pupa, and it seems that there is still some nostalgia for the place, and after about 3-4 weeks, they come out of the nest and open their wings and fly into the blue sky! Ants will also say a final goodbye to grey butterflies!
above!