Michael & Patricia Fogden / Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus) female asleep in Cecropia tree, rainforest, Panama

Gerry Ellis / Cecropia (Cecropia sp) leaf atop lobster claw petals on tropical rainforest floor, Mexico

Ingo Arndt / Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) caterpillar, close up of head

Murray Cooper / Speckled Chachalaca (Ortalis guttata) in Cecropia (Cecropia sp) tree, Ecuador

Christian Ziegler / Cecropia (Cecropia sp) stilt roots, Barro Colorado Island, Panama

Christian Ziegler / Silverleaf Pumpwood (Cecropia peltata) use their energy to grow fast and spend little to defend leaves against herbivores, Barro Colorado Island, Panama

Michael & Patricia Fogden / Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus infuscatus) female feeding on Cecropia sp leaves, Panama

Luiz Claudio Marigo / Collection of rainforest tree leaves {Cecropia sp} at research centre, Manaus, Brazil

PREMAPHOTOS / Ants {Azteca sp} at entrance to nest in Cecropia tree, Costa Rica

Mark Moffett / Ant (Azteca sp) patrol at colony entrance of their host (Cecropia sp) tree, Costa Rica

Michael & Patricia Fogden / Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus) female in a Cecropia tree, rainforest, Panama

Ingo Arndt / Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) detail of wing

Mark Moffett / Ant (Pachycondyla sp) queen digging entry into Cecropia sp sapling in search of place to start new colony

Mark Moffett / Ant (Azteca sp) queen, in her host (Cecropia sp) tree, surrounded by workers and larvae in native colony, Manu, Peru

Mark Moffett / Ant (Azteca sp) queen, in her host (Cecropia sp) tree, starting her colony, Manu, Peru

Mark Moffett / Ant (Azteca sp) queen, in her host (Cecropia sp) tree, starting her colony, Manu, Peru

Mark Moffett / Ant (Azteca sp) queen, in her host (Cecropia sp) tree with workers starting her colony, Manu, Peru

Mark Moffett / Ant (Azteca sp) queen, in her host (Cecropia sp) tree with her first workers starting colony, Manu, Peru

Mark Moffett / Scarab Beetle (Phalangogonia sperata) pair on Cecropia sp plant, El Yano Carti Road, Panama

Mark Moffett / Ant (Azteca sp) patrol leaves to protect their host tree (Cecropia sp), Manu, Peru

Mark Moffett / Ant (Azteca sp) with food item plucked from its host tree (Cecropia sp), Manu, Peru

Mark Moffett / Ant (Azteca sp) patrol on their host tree (Cecropia sp) killing intruder ant species, Costa Rica

Mark Moffett / Meadow Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius) young queen entering hole she's chiseled inside Cecropia tree, carrying food grown by the tree, Peru

Mark Moffett / Ant (Pachycondyla sp) queen collecting white food bodies grown for her on host tree (Cecropia sp), Manu, Peru

Mark Moffett / Ant (Pachycondyla sp) queen digging entry into (Cecropia sp) sapling in search of place to start new colony

Mark Moffett / Ant (Pachycondyla goeldii) queen, chisels entrance into young Cecropia (Cecropia sp) tree to find chambers in which to live and start her colony, Peru

Michael & Patricia Fogden / Cecropia (Cecropia sp) petiole with food for Ants (Azteca sp) which protect plant from herbivores in cloud forest, Tandayapa Valley, western slope of Andes, Ecuador

Michael & Patricia Fogden / Ant (Azteca sp) collecting food from Cecropia (Cecropia sp) petiole, in return, protects plant from herbivores in cloud forest, Tandayapa Valley, western slope of Andes, Ecuador

Christian Ziegler / Ant (Azteca sp) pair coming out of a hole in stem of Cecropia (Cecropia sp) plants that offer ants space and food in exchange for protection against herbivores, Barro Colorado Island, Panama

Nature Production / Cecropia worker ants gather around nest in stalk of {Cecropia sp} plant, Guatemala

Mark Moffett / Cecropia (Cecropia sp) food bodies for its Ant (Azteca sp) residents, Manu, Peru

Mark Moffett / Cecropia (Cecropia sp) sapling examined by professor John Terborgh from whole riverside grove of ant-occupied trees, Manu, Peru

Mark Moffett / Ant occupied Cecropia sp tree at Aztec ruins, Tikal, Guatemala