this is no surprise to anyone who has read dougal dixon's 'man after man'

why haven't any animals adapted to this role for humans!

The full paper described in the article is available here:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13070876/

Mark W. Moffett. The First Cleaner Ant? A Novel Partnership in the Arizona Desert. Ecology and Evolution, 2026; 16 (4) DOI: 10.1002/ece3.73308

This is very cool, and quite surprising. Cleaner fish are thought to be among the most intelligent fish because of the complexity and danger of their feeding strategy: it takes careful planning and quick thinking. But they aren't tied to any particular species of host or general tactic; naively I imagine cleaner fish are more versatile and adaptable than cone ants.

It would be interesting to learn if this occurs with other species of ants. I suppose until now nobody thought to look.

NYT story earlier on this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47754440

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They crawl over them and lick and nibble their bodies? Okay I understand the quotes now.

It truly is the oldest profession.