Pretty Little Liar: The Shy Spy Who Forces Ants to Raise Her Children (6 photos + 1 video)

It is not only the cuckoo that has become famous for its ability to delegate the upbringing of its offspring to completely alien birds. This sweet, modest woman performs a similar trick with enviable virtuosity.





Blueberry Icarus is a sweet, modest creature. A kind of airy fairy of the insect world with the delicate colors of fluttering wings. Which only cares about finding nectar.



But at heart she is a real spy, and also a fraudster. And if we translated all her tricks into the language of the human Criminal Code, then this touching creature would have lost her freedom for more than one year.

After blue-winged males and tawny females mate, the latter lay eggs, giving preference to leguminous plants. The larvae sit quietly in the leaves, chew them and gain strength. After the third molt, they release a strong silk thread and, in the best traditions of Tom Cruise, dive to the ground.





Where life reigns and is full of dangers. In the person of, for example, the ubiquitous and omnivorous ants, for which the extra soft caterpillar will definitely come in handy as a source of protein. They grab a freshly hatched blueberry and drag it into the anthill. But not for the purpose of gobbling it up. The cunning waif secretes a sweet liquid through the dorsal nectar-bearing gland. Which ants perceive as the smell of ant larvae.

Touched by the insects, they immediately deliver the supposedly lost one home, where it begins a heavenly life. The food is only the best and on demand. Care, warmth, protection and all that. Good-natured ants will never know that in the meantime the insidious scout eats their own larvae.



The instinct of survival forces people to act so rudely towards hospitable hosts. The fact is that the pigeons are hunted by the ichneumon wasp, a parasite that lays its eggs in the caterpillars. It can even sneak into an anthill by sensing an object and lulling the guard’s vigilance with its pheromones.



Ichneumon wasp

But only a few fall under the distribution. The rest survive safely until spring, pupate, and by the onset of summer they safely leave their hospitable home.



However, ants are not stupid either. And gradually they began to change the smell of the larvae so as not to raise foreign aggressors to the detriment of their children. The bluebirds rushed to catch up, change theirs, and even learned to imitate the sounds of the ant queen. In general, the battle continues. And, apparently, there will be no winners.