Down below, on sidewalks, in fallen leaves, and across the forest floor, a covert invasion is taking place. Ant colonies, revered and studied for their complex collective behaviors, are being infiltrated by tiny organisms called myrmecophiles. Using incredibly sophisticated tactics, various species of butterflies, beetles, crickets, spiders, fungi, and bacteria insert themselves into ant colonies and decode the colonies’ communication system. Once able to ‘speak the language’, these outsiders can masquerade as ants. Suddenly colony members can no longer distinguish friend from foe.

Hölldobler & Kwapich 2022

Thus far, I have featured several new books authored or edited by faculty at my home institution, the University of Central Florida (UCF). Today, however, I want to showcase my favorite work: The Guests of Ants: How Myrmecophiles Interact with Their Hosts (Belknap Press, 2022), which was co-authored by my colleague and new friend Christina L. Kwapich, a biologist at UCF who specializes in the behavior and ecology of ant societies, and Bert Hölldobler, a behavioral biologist at Arizona State who specializes in myrmecology. The excerpt quoted above is from the dust jacket of their beautiful book.