Leafcutter Ant
Atta cephalotes
Facts
- Workers cut fresh leaves to grow a specialized fungus that supplies the colony with food.
- Workers differ greatly in size and duties: smaller ants tend gardens and brood, larger workers forage, and the largest serve as soldiers.
- A study found stable fungal cultivar genotypes in four Atta cephalotes nests over about five years; a separate survey in the same study found six-year stability in three A. texana nests.
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