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Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
- Vanderbilt University Press
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5 Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing TH E northeasterly sea breeze descends from the Coral Sea, cooling the coastal plains of Queensland. A medley of creaks and groans tunes up in the canopy of the eucalyptus forest, punctuated by the falling clatter of curled sheets of bark. The breeze lessens as it penetrates the understory; closer to the ground the air remains calm and hot, heavy with the camphor scent of the paperbark debris. The impact of a falling seed capsule breaks the stillness at ground level, frightening off a small insect—a black wasp only slightly larger than an ant. The dust still hangs in the air as she recovers her composure and returns her attention to the shallow depressions. Outward signs suggest these are nothing more than random settlings of the soil, but the wasp nonetheless skitters back toward one of them, flowing through the flickering shadows with steps too fast to count. Her progress is broken by sudden stops and reversals; her antennae quiver as she sifts through the scents of resin and leaf mold, searching for airborne clues—some of the depressions are centered with small holes, through which scents diffuse to attract this wasp. She pauses beside one depression in the middle of the clearing , then disappears within. Almost immediately the earth erupts with a swarm of angry ants boiling up from the nest below. They run in haphazard patterns, their numbers darkening the earth as they flood out across the soil surface, attacking everything in their frenzy, including each other. Creatures large and small emerge from concealment beneath the accumulated eucalyptus litter just ahead of the bites and stings from the swarming ants. Centipedes retreat before the black tide; beetles take wing, spiders hop out of the way. Eventually the small wasp reemerges. The ants immediately Threads from the Web of Life turn on her but turn away again just as quickly, more agitated than before. She finds her footing on a slight rise and lifts off into the air, leaving the sea of chaos behind. By the time the ants begin to calm down and thin out around the first nest, the wasp has reappeared beside a second depression , at the edge of the clearing. She does not see the much larger predator poised under the fallen bark, in part because his dark, pebbly skin is continuous with the shadows but mostly because he sits perfectly still—he is invisible to prey who are better at detecting scents or motions than at recognizing stationary form. But just as the wasp pauses at the entrance to the second ant nest, the broad head in the shadows tips down faster than even she could respond and snaps. The Cane Toad swallows, then resumes his statuary pose, and after blinking once he is again invisible to his prey. Weeks later the depression in the center of the bare patch of earth spontaneously erupts again with a seething riot of ants. As before, a black wave of bites and stings expands across the contours of earth and fallen leaves, and the creatures concealed there are again set to flight. From the center of the chaos a new wasp emerges from the hive entrance, just hatched and now meticulously preening her antennae for the first time while crazed ants run by on every side. She takes a few quick steps to make way for a second new wasp emerging just behind; they test their wings together and fly off. Across the clearing at the site of the second nest only a few ants meander among the leaves. They wander undisturbed even though a much larger animal is emerging from the opening of their nest. A gleaming, new butterfly, also just hatched, steps from among them into the sunlight and unfurls its iridescent blue wings, ignored by the smaller workers who patrol unhurried on either side. THE butterfly is the keystone species here in an interdependent , extended forest floor community that includes the ants and the predatory wasps. Butterflies in the Blue family have made peace with the ants, who are usually mortal enemies of butterfly larvae. The ants hunt down and dismember all manner of soft-bodied insects, but a few, including the caterpillars in the [3.236.240.48] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 12:52 GMT) Threads from the Web of Life Blue family, are spared. Ants have learned that these insects are of more food value alive than dead. The caterpillars, no more than shy...