Trophobiotic interactions occur when phytophagous insects provide a sugary liquid, the honeydew, for ants and obtain defence against predators or parasitoids. The plants may indirectly benefit from an increased ant foraging activity by reducing the herbivorous abundance. These three trophic interactions have been previously studied for several species, but mainly involving plants with extrafloral nectaries, which is a plant structure that also produce attractive substances for ants. Previous studies have reported an ant preference for honeydew over extrafloral nectary content. Therefore, trophobiosis can be an important mediator of ant-plant interactions. In this study, we describe a trophobiotic interaction between Edessa contermina stink bugs and Camponotus blandus ants on the Byrsonima verbascifolia plants occurring in a conservation area of Brazilian savanna. Stink bugs excreted a sugary liquid which was consumed by the ants, and C. blandus ants were observed consuming potential parasitoids. Stink bugs were more abundant in plants containing high food supply and shelter availability. The occurrence of ants depended of the number of inflorescences and trunk circumference of B. verbascifolia. Ant abundance, however, was positively correlated with stink bug abundance and the number of inflorescences. Herbivory was not explained by neither plant architecture nor ant abundance. This high ant activity may benefit plants from a protection against herbivory, but we did not detect this effect during the study period. Hence, the interaction among ants and plants was apparently commensal. We concluded that plant traits were important in ant attraction, but stink bugs foraging also increased ant activity on the plant, but mainly on inflorescences. Therefore, the plant may benefit from an increased defence of inflorescences rather than leaves.

中文翻译：

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新热带臭虫和蚂蚁物种之间的新型滋养相互作用：对寄主植物潜在益处的洞察

当植食性昆虫为蚂蚁提供含糖液体蜜露并获得对捕食者或寄生蜂的防御时，就会发生营养相互作用。通过减少食草动物的数量，植物可能会间接受益于增加的蚂蚁觅食活动。这三种营养相互作用之前已经对几个物种进行了研究，但主要涉及具有花外蜜腺的植物，这是一种植物结构，也为蚂蚁产生有吸引力的物质。以前的研究报告了蚂蚁对蜜露的偏好，而不是花外的蜜腺含量。因此，滋养生物可能是蚂蚁-植物相互作用的重要介质。在这项研究中，我们描述了发生在巴西稀树草原保护区的 Byrsonima verbascifolia 植物上的 Edessa contermina 臭虫和 Camponotus blandus 蚂蚁之间的滋养相互作用。臭虫排泄出一种被蚂蚁消耗的含糖液体，观察到 C. blandus 蚂蚁消耗潜在的寄生蜂。臭虫在食物供应量和住所可用性高的植物中更为丰富。蚂蚁的出现取决于花序的数量和 B. verbascifolia 的树干周长。然而，蚂蚁丰度与臭虫丰度和花序数量呈正相关。植物结构和蚂蚁数量都不能解释食草行为。这种高蚂蚁活动可能有益于植物免受食草动物的侵害，但我们在研究期间没有检测到这种影响。因此，蚂蚁和植物之间的相互作用显然是共生的。我们得出结论，植物性状在吸引蚂蚁方面很重要，但臭虫觅食也会增加蚂蚁对植物的活动，但主要是在花序上。因此，植物可能受益于对花序而非叶子的增强防御。