3 ms·

How does this sort of thing evolve? Especially the variant where the gall secretes a sweet nectar to enlist ants to defend the wasp embryo from another wasp sp

• danpat 8y ago
  There is some element of random chance. A random mutation happened, and that mutation ends up dominating the gene pool because it's more successful.
• majos 8y ago
  Not an answer to your question, but there are other examples of this sort of thing. Lycaenid butterflies secrete nectar as caterpillars in exchange for protection by ants [1]. Indeed, ants have symbiotic relationships with a bunch of organisms, including fungus [2], aphids [3], and over 100 species of plants [4]. [1] https://australianmuseum.net.au/lycaenid-butterflies-and-ants https://australianmuseum.net.au/lycaenid-butterflies-and-ant... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%E2%80%93fungus_mutualism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%E2%80%93fungus_mutualism [3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphid#Ant_mutualism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphid#Ant_mutualism [4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmecophyte https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmecophyte