Glossary Details – Lecythidaceae

Glossary Details:

Title: Cecropia ant/plant interaction. Photo by S.A. Mori.

Description: Ants associated with a species of Cecropia based on an unvouchered plant from Brazil. The pads on the abaxial side of the leaf petiole are called trichilia (sing. = trichilium) and the small white bodies within the trichilia are Muellerian bodies (see inset). The ants, usually of the genus Azteca, inhabit the hollow stems. They enter the stem through holes they have drilled at at small depressions at the top of internodes called prostoma.

Term:

Trichilium (plural = trichilia)

Definition:

A pad of densely clustered trichomes located at the abaxial base of the petiole of some species of Cecropia (Cecropiaceae) and containing Muellerian bodies that are a source of food for ants.