This question is about the correct technical term for seed dispersal that is carried out specifically by ants.
- Exozoochory: This term covers seeds that stick externally to an animal's body, such as fur or feathers, and get carried away that way. It is a broader animal dispersal category, not specific to ants.
- Autochory: This describes a plant dispersing its own seed without help from any outside agent, for example through pods that burst open on their own. It does not involve ants at all.
- Myrmecochory: Built from "myrmex" (ant in Greek) and "-chory" (dispersal), this is the specific term for seeds being collected and moved by ants, usually because the seed carries a nutrient rich elaiosome that attracts the ants.
- Herpochory: This term refers to dispersal by seeds creeping or crawling slowly across the ground surface, unrelated to an ant carrying the seed away.
Because the word is built directly from the Greek root for ant plus the general dispersal suffix "-chory", myrmecochory is the precise term for ant mediated seed dispersal.
Let's summarize:
- "-chory" is the general suffix for seed dispersal, and the prefix names the agent involved.
- "Myrmec-" specifically means ant, so myrmecochory means dispersal by ants.
So weed seed dispersal by ants is called myrmecochory.