Evolutionary Arms Race: Butterfly vs. Ant

Neatorama:

“There’s an evolutionary arms race going on between a rare species of butterfly and ants:

Maculinea alcon butterflies infect the nests of
Myrmica ants by hatching caterpillars nearby, hoping that the
caterpillars will be ‘adopted’ and cared for by ants that mistake them
for their own young. The caterpillars achieve this by mimicking the
surface chemistry of the ants. Getting this chemistry right is
important: if an ant doesn’t recognize a caterpillar as one of its own
it will eat it, says David Nash, a zoologist at the University of
Copenhagen in Denmark.

Successfully adopted caterpillars are bad for the ant colonies,
as ants may neglect their own young in favour of the intruders. But the
ants are fighting back. “The ant larvae seem to be evolving as a result
of being parasitized,” says Nash. “It’s an ongoing evolutionary arms
race.”

Link (Photo: David Nash) – via 3quarksdaily