The first evidence on vibration-based communication between long-banded silverline butterflies and acrobat ants was detailed in a paper coauthored by Taiwanese researchers and published in Scientific Reports on Friday last week.
Many lycaenid butterflies in Taiwan have developed organs to attract ants to tend to them, by providing food through dorsal nectary organs or mimicking chemical signals, with one notable exception — the long-banded silverline, National Taiwan Normal University professor Hsu Yu-feng (徐堉峰) said on Thursday.
After observing the long-banded silverline butterfly pupae and larvae attracting a similar number of attendant ants, Hsu said that he and the other coauthors developed the hypothesis that the pupae and larvae were able to produce specific vibrational calls to attract the the acrobat ant.
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan Normal University
Recordings made during the experiment showed that the larvae made three kinds of calls — which the researchers designated as types A, B and C — while pupae could emit one, all of which were very similar to calls emitted by acrobat ants, Hsu said.
Type A calls and pupal calls appeared to induce three behaviors in the ants (aggregation, touching of antennae and guarding), while type B and C calls were correlated with ant aggregation and guarding behavior, he said.
The experiments showed that benevolent behavior in the ants increased significantly from the calls.
The researchers have not discerned how the larvae make the calls, but experiments could test whether vibration-based calls were species-specific, the paper showed.
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS