Ant new estimates suggest that nearly 9% of all plant species may have such ant associations. Some plants in fire-prone grassland systems are particularly dependent on ants for their survival and dispersal as the seeds are transported to safety below the ground. Many ant-dispersed seeds have special external structures, elaiosomes, that are sought after by ants as food. A convergence, possibly a form of mimicry, is seen in the eggs of stick insects. They have an edible elaiosome-like structure and are taken into the ant nest where the young hatch. Most ants are predatory and some prey on and obtain food
Green-head ant seeds they feed on approximately away from their nests in both unburned and burned habitats. In some cases, the seeds of "Adriana quadripartita" are dispersed much farther; the green-head ant accounts for 93% of all ants that collect these seeds and can disperse them as far as . One study shows that the green-head ant, along with "Aphaenogaster longiceps", removed the highest number of seeds and discarded them on top of their nest, with a few remaining several centimetres under the nest. Most seeds dispersed by the green-head ant and "A.longiceps" are eventually eaten by "Pheidole" ants. Since the seeds