domatia

Domatia are small plant structures that provide shelter for arthropods, especially mites and ants. In botany, domatia are cavities, pockets, hollow hairs, or thickenings in leaves, stems, or other organs that house these tiny symbionts. They arise as part of the plant’s morphology and vary widely in form and location among species.

Common forms include leaf domatia—pocket-like cavities or hair-lined pits on the underside or along leaf veins—and stem or branch domatia—hollow internodes or swollen nodes. Some plants produce glandular domatia that secrete substances attracting resident arthropods. The distribution of domatia spans many plant families and habitats, from tropical forests to temperate shrubs.

Domatia are often part of mutualistic relationships in which the resident arthropods, especially ants or predatory mites, defend the plant against herbivores or fungal pathogens. In return, the plant provides shelter and sometimes nutritional resources such as nectar or food bodies. The exact nature of the interaction can range from mutualistic to commensal.

Domatia are studied within the broader field of plant–animal interactions and are a key example of myrmecophytism or ant–plant mutualism. They illustrate coevolutionary dynamics and contribute to plant defense strategies, biodiversity maintenance, and ecological networks in various ecosystems.