Given that different ant species, and different colonies of the same species, are usually extremely hostile towards one another - fighting,
slave making, that sort of thing -
this report of a small species living peacefully, and perhaps symbiotically, in the nest of a large one is Quite Interesting. The ants live in hollow tree branches in West Africa; the small one (
Pyramica maynei) is also capable of living on its own, but might benefit from the secure environment of the large species' (
Platythyrea conradti) nest, possibly in exchange for keeping the place clean.
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