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- Some reference books suggested that the ants come for the honey dew
produced by the special secretary organs on their body. However, we noticed
that the ants also attended the pupa, which were not likely to produce any
honey dew. The Caterpillars always attended by a few Iridomyrmex
species of ants from the subfamily DOLICHODERINAE
and not by other species of ants. We suspected that the caterpillar and
pupa may exploit and take the advantage the chemical signals of those ants.
The caterpillar and pupa may secrete the chemical so that the ants think
they are their 'Queen' or 'sisters'. This is just and speculation, need more
observations on this.
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