A frog found in the Amazonian rain forest is able to perfectly impersonateleaf - cutting tool antsin order to play a trick on them into not biting it , thanks to a chemical secreted by its skin , harmonize to a new field . This give up the frog – known asLithodytes lineatus – to trespass on the ants ’ nest and lie its testicle , using the brutally defensive insect as bodyguard that attack any predators that may draw near .
Living up to its reputation as organic evolution ’s research lab , the Amazon is full of animal with remarkable adjustment that assist them either to avoid predation or to kill . Many parasitic invertebrate , for case , producechemicals that mimic those of their server , enable them to disguise themselves as their fair game and surreptitiously make liaison .
Though this proficiency is rarely run into in invertebrate , researcher from the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Brazil start to surmise thatLithodytes lineatusmay secrete chemicals that are standardized to the pheromone used by folio - pinnace ants to pass , after noticing that the frogs are never bitten by the ants when they enter their nest to consist testicle .
They therefore decided to placeLithodytes lineatusand four other Amazonian frog species in a glass container with some foliage - cutters ants , and point out that whileLithodytes lineatusremained totally calm , all the other frogs panicked and tried to escape the vessel .
In the meantime , the ants viciously assault all toad apart fromLithodytes lineatus , which did not encounter a single bite .
Next , the research worker surface 20Rhinella majorfrogs with a chemical substance obtained from the skin ofLithodytes lineatus , and found that this caused the ants to completely ignore them . In contrast , allRhinella majorfrogs that were coat only in water were brutally set up upon by the leaf - cutting tool .
publish their study in the journalBehavioral Ecology and Sociobiology , the authors conclude that their experiments give away thatLithodytes lineatussecretes a chemical that tricks foliage - cutting ants into think it is one of their own . " It assist the batrachian blending in , because it imitates the pismire own chemical substance signals , " said researcher André Barros in astatement .
As well as taking vantage of the fact the ant fend off predators that might otherwise eat its eggs , the frog also benefits from the humidity inside the nest , which the researchers say helps it reproduce .
