This
led us to believe that large differences in the nature of the secreted honeydew might exist, due to some
clones capitalizing more or less on their mutualistic interaction with ants, or due to some ‘‘cheater’’
clones foregoing the production of particular sugars, instead taking advantage of the ant-attracting effect
of other non sugar-deficient clones, co-occurring on the same plant. Here we present data on clonal variation
in the composition of honeydew of the black bean aphid Aphis fabae which confirm this prediction.