The fruits also provide food for many species of ant.
The colonies can be up to 100 times larger than those of native ant species.
Pretty soon neither the plant nor the ant species can survive without the other.
Only half the estimated 20,000 species of ant have been documented.
Some species of ant are able to use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation.
These plants can be grown in cultivation without the ant species being present.
Other associated ant species appear to do nothing to benefit their hosts.
M. acervorum is known to live with more than 20 different ant species.
The captain was still for a few moments, looking at Rosen as though he were a new and interesting species of ant.
They are more aggressive than most native ant species and have a painful sting.
