RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT 22 April 2026 Arizona ‘cleaner’ ant nibbles and licks the workers of a different ant species. Ants in the Dorymyrmex genus attend to the face and body of a harvester ant. Credit: M. W. Moffett /Ecol. Evol. Even ants deserve their spa day. Pogonomyrmex barbatus harvester ants pay regular visits to the nests of much smaller ants, which seem to groom the hulking visitors — the first known example of such mutualism between ant species 1 . Access options Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any time Subscribe to this journal Receive 51 print issues and online access $199.00 per year only $3.90 per issue Rent or buy this article Prices vary by article type from $1.95 to $39.95 Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout Additional access options: Log in Learn about institutional subscriptions Read our FAQs Contact customer support doi:…