ALT Relying on hosts like ants demands specific defense adaptations that in M. acervorum include chemotactile and body size mimicry and rapid zig zag-like escape movements (Akino 2008, Hölldobler and Kwapich 2022). When colonizing a new ant nest, the crickets accumulate ant cuticular hydrocarbons on their bodies that, in turn, reduces ant aggression, as ants use these substances as a nest-mate recognition cue (Akino 2008). Ant crickets lay up to four eggs per clutch under the ant brood pile, where they benefit from the controlled microclimatic conditions (Hölldobler and Kwapich 2022).

ALT Ants'-nest Cricket (Myrmecophilus acervorum) Author: Karim Strohriegl