Editing Acacia sensu lato (section)

==Symbiosis==
[[File:Acacia collinsii3.jpg|thumb|''[[Acacia collinsii]]'' stipules]]
[[File:Acacia drepanolobium MHNT.BOT.2011.3.97.jpg|thumb|Swollen stipules of ''Acacia drepanolobium'' that serve as ant [[domatia]]. An entry hole can be seen at the base of one of the spines of the largest domatia. From the [[MHNT]]]]
In the [[Central American]] bullthorn acacias—''[[Acacia sphaerocephala]]'', ''[[Acacia cornigera]]'' and ''[[Acacia collinsii]]'' — some of the spiny stipules are large, swollen and hollow. These afford shelter for several species of ''[[Pseudomyrmex]]'' ants, which feed on [[Extrafloral nectary|extrafloral nectaries]] on the leaf-stalk and small [[lipid]]-rich food-bodies at the tips of the leaflets called [[Beltian body|Beltian bodies]]. In return, the [[ant]]s add protection to the plant against [[herbivore]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Heil |first=Martin |author2=Sabine Greiner |author3=Harald Meimberg |author4=Ralf Krüger |author5=Jean-Louis Noyer |author6=Günther Heubl |author7=K. Eduard Linsenmair |author8=Wilhelm Boland |year=2004 |title=Evolutionary change from induced to constitutive expression of an indirect plant resistance |url=http://agritrop.cirad.fr/520973/ |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=430 |issue=6996 |pages=205–208 |bibcode=2004Natur.430..205H |doi=10.1038/nature02703 |pmid=15241414 |s2cid=4416036}}</ref> Some species of ants will also remove competing plants around the acacia, cutting off the offending plants' leaves with their jaws and ultimately killing them. Other associated ant species appear to do nothing to benefit their hosts.

Similar mutualisms with ants occur on ''Acacia'' trees in Africa, such as the [[whistling thorn]] acacia. The acacias provide shelter for ants in similar swollen stipules and nectar in extrafloral nectaries for their symbiotic ants, such as ''Crematogaster mimosae''. In turn, the ants protect the plant by attacking large mammalian herbivores and stem-boring beetles that damage the plant.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Palmer|first=T.M.|author2=M.L. Stanton|author3=T.P. Young|author4=J.R. Goheen|author5=R.M Pringle|author6= R. Karban|s2cid=32467164|title=Breakdown of an ant-plant mutualism following the loss of large herbivores from an African savanna|journal=Science|volume=319|issue=5860|pages=192–195|doi=10.1126/science.1151579|pmid=18187652|date=January 2008|bibcode = 2008Sci...319..192P }}</ref>

The predominantly herbivorous spider ''[[Bagheera kiplingi]]'', which is found in Central America and Mexico, feeds on nubs at the tips of the acacia leaves, known as Beltian bodies, which contain high concentrations of protein. These nubs are produced by the acacia as part of a symbiotic relationship with certain species of ant, which also eat them.<ref>Meehan, Christopher J.; Olson, Eric J.; Curry, Robert L. (21 August 2008): [http://eco.confex.com/eco/2008/techprogram/P12401.HTM Exploitation of the ''Pseudomyrmex''–''Acacia'' mutualism by a predominantly vegetarian jumping spider (''Bagheera kiplingi'')] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191201153140/https://eco.confex.com/eco/2008/techprogram/P12401.HTM |date=2019-12-01 }}. The 93rd ESA Annual Meeting.</ref>