Ants Exhibit Cleaner‑Fish Mutualism

Researchers documented harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) soliciting much smaller cone ants to crawl over and 'clean' them in Arizona; sessions lasted 15 seconds to five minutes and are described as the first observed cleaner‑type interaction among ants (Moffett, Ecology and Evolution, 2026). The paper hypothesizes benefits such as ectoparasite removal, detritus feeding for the cleaners, or cross‑species microbiome exchanges. — Demonstrates a novel form of interspecific cooperation that informs debates about how mutualisms evolve, how microbiomes and disease vectors move across species, and how ecological analogies (e.g., 'cleaner fish') shape public understanding of animal behavior.