Resumen

DEL VAL, Ek  y  DIRZO, Rodolfo. Mirmecofilia: las plantas con ejército propio. INCI [online]. 2004, vol.29, n.12, pp.673-679. ISSN 0378-1844.

Myrmecophily, the occurrence of mutualistic interactions between ants and plants, is a fascinating subject that has attracted the interest of naturalists and ecologists for a long time. Although myrmecophily includes a diverse array of interactions, such as the development of epiphytic gardens by ants and seed dispersal by ants, it is traditionally associated to anti-herbivore defensive interactions by ants, guarding animals which are in turn rewarded by plants via the production of food and housing structures. In this paper a brief historical analysis of this field of study is presented and the adaptations of plants to maintain the myrmecophytic interaction are discussed. In addition, an analysis is made of the available literature on the subject, from which the geographic, taxonomic and ecological distribution of myrmecophily is discussed. Such analysis reveals that this interaction is predominant in the tropics, but particularly in the neotropics; that it is represented in a wide variety of plant lineages and that myrmecophytes are predominantly, though not exclusively, species of rapid growth rates, associated to habitats of high light availability. Throughout the text some of the promissory directions in the study of myrmecophily are highlighted and the opportunities that this field of enquiry offers to study the evolution of plant traits that are influenced by animals, and vice versa, are discussed.

Palabras clave : Defensa Biótica; Herbivoría; Mirmecofilia; Mutualismos.