You see, these gregarious bugs like to gather around grub, and yes, they are true bugs, that's why the ant is there. The treehoppers use their piercing mouth parts to feed off of the plant, and as they're feasting extra sap is left on the plant as honeydew. This is what the ants are after. And while they're bumming a meal off the treehoppers they're also protecting them.
The mutualistic relationship with ant colonies gives treehoppers extra protection from predation. The ants are such effective babysitters their presences can even change treehopper parenting strategies. Without an ant presence treehopper females tend to stick around their first brood, protecting the nymphs. but if the ants are dropping by for dinner female treehoppers tend to go off and start more clutches, and the nymph survival rate for that colony goes way up.
It was a cool relationship like this that I stumbled upon on the underside of a leaf at GMF. Unfortunately I didn't have my trusty iPad on hand, so credit for the photo goes to http://www.wrobelphoto.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3269
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