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The fungus cultivated by the adults is used to feed the ant larvae, and the adult ants feed on leaf sap. The fungus needs the ants to stay alive, and the larvae need the fungus to stay alive, so mutualism is obligatory. The fungi used by the higher attine ants no longer produce spores. These ants fully domesticated their fungal partner 15 ...
Atta mexicana is a species of leaf-cutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Atta. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines (fungus-growing ants) within the tribe Attini .
If a particular type of leaf is toxic to the fungus, the colony will no longer collect it. The only two other groups of insects that have evolved fungus-based agriculture are ambrosia beetles and termites. The fungus cultivated by the adults is used to feed the ant larvae and the adult ants feed on the leaf sap.
There are at least 55 distinct species of leaf cutter ants, divided into three genera: Acromyrmex, Amoimyrmux, and Atta. While the Amoimyrmex ants typically have three ant castes (different types ...
The sizes of leaf fragments have been found in some studies to vary based on the size of ants due to the ants' anchoring of their hind legs while cutting, [45] [53] though other studies have not found correlations. [54] This is likely because many factors affect how ants cut leaves, including neck flexibility, body axis location, and leg length ...
Leafcutter ants can create bottom-up gaps by forming their large nests. The ants excavate soil rich in organic matter, and store additional organic matter in their underground chambers. This creates rich soils that promote plant growth. The ants can also trim the leaves of plants in the understory, allowing for more light to hit the forest ...
New research shows that ants have been farming fungi for 66 million years — thanks in part to the asteroid that fueled the demise of the dinosaurs. When a massive asteroid wiped out the ...
This is a list of leafcutter ants, comprising 42 species from two genera: Atta and Acromyrmex. Species Image Common name Distribution Atta bisphaerica: Atta capiguara: