Aphids aren't the only insects that have beguiled ants into becoming formicable guardians. Butterflies in the family Lycaenidae, also known as blues, coppers and hairstreaks for the delicate tints of their upper wing surfaces, also frequently associate with ants as caterpillars. Some species allow themselves to be milked for their sugary secretions. Others twist the plot by turning on the aphids that ants tend or even eating their way through the colony's larvae, thanks to mindwarping chemicals that suppress the ants' defensive instincts.
This caterpillar at Sungei Buloh has a body that is uncannily snail-like in profile. But what appears to be cephalic horns are in fact cylindrical sheaths for tentacular organs that evert and whirl about rapidly when the animal is prodded. The hair-like processes are thought to discharge a chemical distress signal that draws nearby ants into attacking nasty little animals that seek to disturb the caterpillar. Alternatively, they are believed to repel ants as well as anatid annoyances. It was quite fun nudging the cat which initially everted its organs with shocking speed. But when the grub realised that it was being poked for a lark rather than lunch, it stopped playing and pondered the ill-fortune of being bugged by a duck.
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