The living trap: how ants and fungus rig a plant to catch prey
Researchers describe a three-way symbiosis in the Amazon between the shrub Hirtella physophora, the ant Allomerus decemarticulatus, and a cultivated fungus. The ants fashion a trap by cutting plant hairs and using fungal adhesive to build a stem platform with pores, where they ambush prey much larger than themselves; crickets are overcome and consumed. The plant gains defense and sugar rewards; the ants get prey, and the fungus feeds on waste, making a rare win-win-win interaction.