Ant and ant mimic

[Lord V]

put a drop of sugar honey water on a milk bottle top near a black ant colony (Lasius niger) today and got an ant on one side of the drop and an ant mimicking flightless wasp on the other side. Assume the wasp is Gelis sp. Both shots taken at 5:1 FF and focus stacked. Both bugs body length 3.8mm.
Wonder if this is an amazing coincidence or is the wasp living with the ants ?

Brian v.

[Rossco]

Good pics. It makes sense for a mimic to live with or in close proximity to the object of its mimicry, so I doubt what you saw is coincidence.

What camera and lens did you use to get those photos?

[ChrisR]

I think it might be too much of an assumption to say that Gelis are mimics of ants just because they look a bit similar - the antennae are very different. Gelis is just a wingless ichneumonoid and there might be another reason for them to look that way

[Lord V]

Thanks for the comments

Chris - apart from looking rather similar, I was rather amazed that the ant and the wasp were within 15mm of each other without the ant seeming to notice the wasp. Normally these ants will either chase off larger competition or attack anything of similar size. Have to admit i know nothing about the life cycle of these wasps but it did seem rather coincidental that the wasp was very near an ant colony ?
Having said that I was using the mimic term loosly- meaning it sure looked like a black ant to me until I got the 5X lens on it but the behaviour of the ants did make me wonder if there was more too it.
Brian v.

[Lord V]

Originally Posted by Rossco

Good pics. It makes sense for a mimic to live with or in close proximity to the object of its mimicry, so I doubt what you saw is coincidence.

What camera and lens did you use to get those photos?

Rossco - was using a 5Dmk2 and MPE-65 lens/430Ex flash.
Brian V.

[Jason Green]

Afternoon Brian,

Very good photos! I agree, the wasp is a Gelis. They have a very distinctive join between the thorax and abdomen - that's what I look for first.

As for the proximity I doubt it has anything much to do with mimicry - to me they simply look alike in a way due to them being hymenopterans, and not because of any advantage gained by sticking close. As far as I can tell they don't have any specific associations with ants, but may be wrong.

Take care,

Jason

[Lord V]

Originally Posted by Jason Green

Afternoon Brian,

Very good photos! I agree, the wasp is a Gelis. They have a very distinctive join between the thorax and abdomen - that's what I look for first.

As for the proximity I doubt it has anything much to do with mimicry - to me they simply look alike in a way due to them being hymenopterans, and not because of any advantage gained by sticking close. As far as I can tell they don't have any specific associations with ants, but may be wrong.

Take care,

Jason

Thanks for the comments Jason - agree, I can't find much decent info on the Gelis wasps apart from some are hyperparasitoids.
It just seems an amazing coincidence that one of the wasps (which I've only seen 3 times in 5 years) was sitting close to the ant which it does resemble and the ant was taking no notice of it.
Brian V.

[Rossco]

Brian

Genera in the sub-family gelinae are listed as mimic of ants in a paper in the Annual Review of Entomology from 1993 by Mclver and Stonedahl. It is entitled: Myrmecomorphy: Morphological and Behavioral Mimicry of Ants.

I for one think there's probably something going on here. The gelinae, especially the Gelis genus are very poorly known, both taxonomically and biologically and the face value of a relationship in the natural world typically belies its true complexity.

Also, due to the predatory proclivities of ants, what insects hang around with them in the absence of a deeper relationship?

Wasps in the gelinae sub-family are known to be parasitoids of cocoon forming or case bearing insects (I've found a Thaumatogelis species parasitising Cryptocephalus nitidulus larvae in their cases).

I wouldn't be surprised if there are species in this wasp sub-family that have evolved to take advantage of the abundance of prey in ant nests by looking like and, more importantly, smelling like their quarry. Just a theory, but it would be interesting to try and find out.

Ross

[Lord V]

Originally Posted by Rossco

Brian

Genera in the sub-family gelinae are listed as mimic of ants in a paper in the Annual Review of Entomology from 1993 by Mclver and Stonedahl. It is entitled: Myrmecomorphy: Morphological and Behavioral Mimicry of Ants.

I for one think there's probably something going on here. The gelinae, especially the Gelis genus are very poorly known, both taxonomically and biologically and the face value of a relationship in the natural world typically belies its true complexity.

Also, due to the predatory proclivities of ants, what insects hang around with them in the absence of a deeper relationship?

Wasps in the gelinae sub-family are known to be parasitoids of cocoon forming or case bearing insects (I've found a Thaumatogelis species parasitising Cryptocephalus nitidulus larvae in their cases).

I wouldn't be surprised if there are species in this wasp sub-family that have evolved to take advantage of the abundance of prey in ant nests by looking like and, more importantly, smelling like their quarry. Just a theory, but it would be interesting to try and find out.

Ross

Thanks for the info and comments Ross -have to admit I do think this was not mere coincidence especially having seen what normally happens to any other insect near these ants. It was still fairly cold though which might have modified their behaviour.
Brian v.

[JRsbugs]

I also think there's some sort of relationship going on. Anything resembling another, as well as having a close encounter generally means where there's smoke there's fire.

Take for instance cuckoo bees, I saw both Bombus lapidarius queen and B. rupestris female feeding on the same Rhododendron, they are difficult to tell apart but together you can see the difference.

I found a pdf which might be interesting, looks like the same one Rossco mentioned.

Myrmecomorphy: Morphological and Behavioral Mimicry of Ants - Annual Review of Entomology, 38(1):351 - First Page Image