New trophobiotic symbioses of ants with South East Asian Bugs

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Abstract
A trophobiotic relationship between two species of phloem-feeding plataspid bugs and an ant, Meranoplus mucronatus, was discovered on tree trunks in Malaysia. Similar relationships were found between coreid bugs and Crematogaster sp. and Anoplolepis longipes, on bamboo in the same area. The ants recruit to groups of the bugs and feed on the liquid, sugar-rich faeces of the larvae, stimulating release of the honeydew by tactile signals. They protect all stages of the bugs from disturbance by biting and by the use of defensive scretions. Phloem-feeding bugs in the families Plataspidae and Coreidae need long stylets to pierce the thick bark of their host tree. The different methods of accommodating the resting stylets in these two families are described. The plataspids are described as Tropidotylus servus sp. nov. and T. minister sp. nov. A coreid previously reported in association with M. mucronatus in Malaya is described as Hygia cliens sp. nov. The coreids on bamboo were determined as Cloresmus spp. and Notobitus affinis.