Trillium season.

[scruss@xoxo.zone]

@NuanceRhymesWithOrange It's slightly unfair on entomologists, as that word basically means "we slice up dead bugs", and it's not *just* about the slicing ...

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

"Myrmecochory" is literally "ant walking" because these kinds of plants have little ant treats stuck to their seeds and the ants discover they have to drag the whole seed just to get the good bit back to their nest... which is often a great place for a seed to grow.

[energisch_@troet.cafe]

@futurebird Plants with smart mobility tactics! @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@energisch_ @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

Ants wondering why the groceries come with so much heavy junk mail!

[energisch_@troet.cafe]

@futurebird Ah, but they do get added benefits! A plant growing right in their homes! @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

[scruss@xoxo.zone]

@otte_homan only if they like weird old European coffee

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

OK. Prepare to have your mind blown. You thought Myrmecochory was wild? Plants that get ants to move their seeds? How about wasps that mimic such seeds by inducing an Oak tree to grow a gall with an elisome (the yummy part that makes the ants want to move it)

That's right, some gall-making wasps create galls that are dispersed by ants using the myrmecochory behavioral template from seeds!

🤯

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

Those structures are NOT the eggs of the wasp. It's grown by the oak tree. Those are oak tree cells that have been tricked by the power of the wasps and their larvae to make this strange structure that seems to not benefit the tree at all.

How do wasps make plants do these things for them? Can you make a tree grow in the shape of a nice house for YOUR child?

[michaelgemar@cosocial.ca]

@futurebird @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange Where do the ants take the galls? Back to their nest?

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@michaelgemar @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

They take them back to their nest and remove the elisome. Then they toss the gall in their garbage pile. And that's seems to be where everyone (seeds, baby wasps in galls) wants to be. In the ant garbage for some reason.

[stevegis_ssg@mas.to]

@futurebird @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

This is a neat question. There are bacteria that inject DNA into plant cells, that encodes a protein that activates other genes and turns on a whole genetic program to make gall-like structures that the bacteria live in. I wonder if the wasps use commensal bacteria to do the same thing!

[xenotrope@bsd.network]

@futurebird @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange Now that's what I'd call "interesting fauna".

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

I really love this infographic because of the "action shots" showing the ants interacting with the galls and the seeds.

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@xenotrope @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

And flora... it's all over the place.

Sometimes I feel like people aren't astonished enough by the implications of plant galls.

It's scifi stuff.

[scruss@xoxo.zone]

@futurebird @camless every time I think the world has got weird enough, there's a little wasp somewhere making it even weirder

[neckspike@indiepocalypse.social]

@futurebird

@michaelgemar @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange ANT GARBAGE IS THE PLACE TO BE

[michaelgemar@cosocial.ca]

@neckspike @futurebird @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange I’m hearing the Green Acres theme song…

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@michaelgemar @neckspike @camless @scruss @NuanceRhymesWithOrange

*sings*

Ant garbage is the place to be
Myrmecochory is a ride for free
Detritus spread out far and wide
keep the canopy let ant refuse be my guide!