PROGRESSIVE LOSS OF ANT-RELATED TRAITS OF CECROPIA PELTATA ON SELECTED CARIBBEAN ISLANDS

Cecropia of South and Central America, and Trinidad and Tobago, maintain a symbiotic relationship with Azteca ants. The plant provides a domicile and food supply and in return the ants defend the plant from insect attack and/or vine overgrowth. Cecropia is present on certain Caribbean islands, north of Trinidad and Tobago, but does not maintain a relationship with ants. The Cecropia on Puerto Rico have lost all structures normally associated with the production of the ant food. On the islands between Trinidad and Puerto Rico, stages in the loss of traits related to the ant symbiosis are present.