The ants have been known to bite the wings off the aphids in order to stop them from getting away and depriving the ants of one of their staple foods: the sugar-rich sticky honeydew which is excreted by aphids when they eat plants. Chemicals produced in the glands of ants can also sabotage the growth of aphid wings.

How do ants interact with aphids?

These relationships are mainly mutualistic. An example of this type of relationship is between aphids and several ant species. The aphids provide honeydew to the ants while the ants will take the aphids into their nests at night to protect them from predators and escort them back to a plant the next morning.

How do ants benefit from aphid poop?

It’s a relationship that benefits both ants and aphids, for the most part. The ants protect their charges from predators and groom them to remove parasites, and often move their stock to new feeding grounds as the old ones are depleted.