Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Fabales > Fabaceae > Vachellia > Vachellia drepanolobium

Vachellia drepanolobium (Whistling Thorn)

Synonyms: Acacia drepanolobium (homotypic); Acacia formicarum; Acacia lathouwersii

Wikipedia Abstract

Vachellia drepanolobium (syn. Acacia drepanolobium), commonly known as Whistling Thorn (family Fabaceae), is a swollen-thorn vachellia native to East Africa. The whistling thorn grows up to 6 meters tall. It produces a pair of straight thorns at each node, some of which have large bulbous bases. These swollen thorns are naturally hollow and occupied by any one of several symbiotic ant species. The common name of the plant is derived from the observation that when wind blows over bulbous thorns in which ants have made entry/exit holes, they create a whistling noise.
View Wikipedia Record: Vachellia drepanolobium

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  High
Leaf Type [2]  Deciduous
Structure [2]  Tree

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Mahale Mountains National Park II 398414 Tanzania
Mount Kulal Biosphere Reserve 1729738 Kenya  

Ecosystems

Predators

Consumers

Shelter for 
Crematogaster mimosae[7]
Crematogaster sjostedti[7]
Tetraponera penzigi[6]
Crematogaster mimosae[6]
Crematogaster nigriceps (Ant)[6]

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
♦ 2Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
♦ 3Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 4Diet for a Small Primate: Insectivory and Gummivory in the (Large) Patas Monkey (Erythrocebus patas pyrrhonotus); Lynne A. Isbell; American Journal of Primatology 45:381–398 (1998)
♦ 5Sex differences in giraffe feeding ecology: energetic and social constraints, Truman P. Young & Lynne A. Isbell, Ethology 87, 79-89 (1991)
♦ 6SPATIAL HABITAT HETEROGENEITY INFLUENCES COMPETITION AND COEXISTENCE IN AN AFRICAN ACACIA ANT GUILD, TODD M. PALMER, Ecology, 84(11), 2003, pp. 2843–2855
♦ 7Interspecific and Temporal Variation of Ant Species Within Acacia drepanolobium Ant Domatia, a Staple Food of Patas Monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) in Laikipia, Kenya, LYNNE A. ISBELL1 AND TRUMAN P. YOUNG, American Journal of Primatology 69:1387–1398 (2007)
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0