Homopteran Attendance by Wasps and Ants: The Stochastic Nature of Interactions

Associations of Hymenoptera with Homoptera have intriguedecologists and evolutionary biologists as model systems of mutualism.The extensive body of literature, however, tends to be skewedto the interactions between ants and homopteran trophobionts inthe Aphidae or Coccoidea (e.g., Kloft et al. 1965, Nixon 1951, Way1963, Wilson 1971). In the following account we document a web ofmultispecies interactions within and between trophic levels, involvinga species of wasp, several species of ants, and twospecies of Homoptera. This account is unique in the literature onHymenoptera-Homoptera associations because it (1) addressesobservable interference between hymenopteran attendants, (2)reports behavioral preference by homopterans for certain hymenopreranattendants, and (3) describes an interaction between a polistinewasp and an aetalionid planthopper. In addition, this study hasgeneral implications about the quality of diffuse and multiple associationsbetween Homoptera and their honeydew foragers