myrmeco-, myrmec-, myrme-, myrmic-, myrmi-
(Greek: ant, ants)
An outwardly "purposeful" category of dispersal is accomplished by plants through myrmecochory, the employment of attractive seed appendages and chemicals that induce the ants to transport the seeds without harming the embryo or endosperm. Myrmecochory is an almost world wide phenomenon.
Some specialized plant-dwelling ants protect their myrmecophyte hosts not only from herbivores but also from other plants that crowd in too closely. Some worker ants attack and destroy any foreign plant that sprouts within 40 centimeters of the trunk of the acacia in which they live, and they cut back vines and foliage of neighboring trees that touch the acacia crown. This pruning action has the effect of promoting the growth and survival of the host plant, but it also removes bridges over which alien ants can attack the resident colony.
—The Ants by Bert Holldober and Edward O. Wilson;
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press;
1990; pages 549 and 553.
myrmecoclepty, myrmecoklepty
A symbiosis between ant species in which the guest species steals food directly from the host species.
myrmecocole, myrmecocolous
Living in ant or termite nests.
Myrmecocystus
myrmecodomatia
Plant structures inhabited by ants or termites.
myrmecodomus
1. A reference to a plant that affords shelter to ants.
2. An ant-inhabited cavity in plant tissue.
myrmecoidy
myrmecological
Pertaining to myrmecology.
myrmecologist (s), myrmecologists (pl)
Someone or those who specialize in the study of ants.
myrmecology
The study of ants.
myrmecolous, myrmecocole
Living in ant or termite nests.
Myrmecophaga
A genus of animals; such as, the ant bear.
Myrmecophaga tridactyla
A large tropical American anteater having an elongated narrow snout, a long sticky tongue, three finger-toes, and a large shaggy tail.
myrmecophage, myrmecophagous, myrmecophagy
Feeding on ants or termites.
A myrmecophage, or ant eater, has found a good number of ants to eat.
Myrmecophagidae
Anteaters; family of Neotropical insectivorous mammals (Edentata) containing a single terrestrial, and two mainly arboreal, species; head elongate, oral region tubular; teeth absent, tongue elongate, protrusible and sticky; forelimbs powerful with large claws for breaking open nests of ants and termites.
myrmecophagous, myrmecophage, myrmecophagia, myrmecophagy
Feeding mainly or exclusively on ants or termites.
A cross reference of other word family units that are related directly, or indirectly, with: "insects, bugs, worms; invertebrates":
aphidi-;
api-;
ascari-;
culci-;
Dung Beetle Survival;
Dung Beetles Important;
Eating Worms;
entomo-;
formic-;
Guinea worms;
helmintho-;
insecto-;
Insects: Importance;
isopter-;
larvi-;
lepidopter-;
meliss-;
mosquito;
Mosquito, other Languages;
Mosquitoes, Pt. 1;
Mosquitoes, Pt. 2;
scarab;
scoleco-;
sphec-;
taeni-;
termit-;
vermo-.
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