occur throughout the year. The larvae only cannibalise each other; this is most likely to happen when no dead insects are available. Predators, parasites and associations Myrmecia ants deter many potential predators due to their sting. The blindsnake Ramphotyphlops nigrescens consumes the larvae and pupae of Myrmecia, while avoiding the potent sting of the adults, which it is vulnerable to. The short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) also eats the eggs and larvae. Nymphs of the assassin bug species Ptilocnemus lemur lure these ants to themselves by trying to make the ant sting them, by waving its hind legs around to attract a potential prey item. Body remains of Myrmecia have been found in the stomach contents of the eastern yellow robin (Eopsaltria australis). The Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), the black currawong (Strepera versicolor), and the white-winged chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos) prey on these ants, but few are successfully taken. The host association between Myrmecia and eucharitid wasps began several million years ago; M. forficata larvae are the host to Austeucharis myrmeciae, being the first recorded eucharitid parasitoid of an ant, and Austeucharis fasciiventris is a parasitoid to M. gulosa pupae. M. pilosula is affected by a gregarines parasite that changes an ant's colour from their typical black appearance to brown. This was discovered when brown workers were dissected and found to have gregarinasina spores, while black workers showed no spores. Another unidentified gregarine parasite is known to infect the larvae of M. pilosula and other Myrmecia species. This gregarine parasite also softens the ant's cuticle. Other parasites include Beauveria bassiana, Paecilomyces lilacinus, Chalcura affinis, Tricoryna wasps, and various mermithid nematodes. M. hirsuta and M. inquilina are the only known species in this genus that are inquilines and live in other Myrmecia colonies. An M. inquilina queen has been found in an M. vindex colony. Myrmecia is a larval attendant to the butterfly Theclinesthes serpentata (saltbush blue), while some species, particularly M. nigrocincta, enslave other ant species, notably those in the genus Leptomyrmex. M. nigriceps ants are able to enter another colony of the same species without being attacked, as they may be unable to recognize alien conspecifics, nor do they try to distinguish nestmates from ants of another colony. Formicoxenus provancheri and M. brevinoda share a form of symbiotic relationship known as xenobiosis, where one species of ant will live with another and raise their young separately, with M. brevinoda being the