Figures 11.11


A tuber of the epiphytic myrmecophyte Myrmecodia beccarii (Rubiaceae), cut open to show the chambers inhabited by ants.
Figures 11.11. A tuber of the epiphytic myrmecophyte Myrmecodia beccarii (Rubiaceae), cut open to show the chambers inhabited by ants.

Ants live in smooth-walled chambers and deposit their refuse in warted tunnels, from which nutrients are absorbed by the plant. (After Monteith 1990)

Previous figure
  Two myrmecophytes showing the domatia (hollow chambers) that house ants and the food resources available to the ants:
Next figure
  A pitcher of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae) cut open to show fly inquilines in the fluid: