Overview
- Peer-reviewed research recorded vibroacoustic signals from two ant species and nine butterfly caterpillar species collected in northern Italy.
- Highly myrmecophilous larvae matched ants’ isochrony and exhibited a rare double meter of alternating long and short intervals.
- Species with weak or no ties to ants produced simpler or irregular rhythms that did not mirror ant patterns.
- The study, published February 25 in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1111/nyas.70223), links rhythmic precision to ant integration.
- How caterpillars generate queen-like vibrations remains unknown, with authors urging playback experiments and cross-family comparisons as next steps.