Aphids and an Ant

My friend and me spent our morning today doing some macro work in a local park and my friend found these aphids and ants and told me their story. The story being - aphids produce honeydew which ants feed on!

I then googled around to read more about aphids. It appears that ants and aphids share an interesting relation. Aphids eat plant sap and excrete homeydew. Some aphids excrete honeydew only on stimulation by an ant like this one! I saw ant gently tapping aphids then some aphids use to excrete a tiny honeydew (see it in the image). What a magic ! In return I understand ants protect them from their predators while they happily feed on plant sap. Nature's stories are just amazing...

Image details - 1/250sec, iso400, Nikon D200, 105mm micro plus 32mm extension cropped for composition. Physically these aphids (plant-lice)I saw today are about 1-1.5mm in length.

Thanks for your views.