uploadLeafcutter Ants
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This video depicts the leaf cutter red ants of Panama. These guys are ferocious little creatures and they have literal, 'highways' throughout the jungles of Panama. Not sure what can stop them and they bite really hard and its stings for an hour so watch out and don't wear sandals when you hike.
btw: The large soldiers are so tough they can cut through leather!Wow...
Leafcutter ants cut leaves from plants and trees and grow fungus on these cut fragments. The ants use this fungus to feed their larvae (the ants themselves mostly imbibe plant sap from the cut leaf fragments). The true leafcutters are restricted to two genera of ants (Atta and Acromyrmex) comprising a total of about 38 species.
Leaf cutter ants are limited to the arid, semi-tropical and tropical regions of South, Central, and North America, but they are one of the ecologically-dominant ants everywhere they are found. They are arguably the most well-known of the ants to the local people and foreign tourists in these regions, mainly because of their spectacular habit of carrying colored petals or green leaves in foraging lines that may stretch more than 250 meters from their nest!
Leaf cutter ants have one of the most sophisticated animal societies in the world. This is because of their unusual method of farming (they are the only animal besides humans who grow their own food from living matter), their extremely large colony sizes (up to 8 million individuals per colony in one species, Atta sexdens), and their fantastic caste system (with ants of different sizes and forms specialized for various tasks in the colony).
Leaf cutter ants grow their fungus cultures on a substrate made of ground up plant matter, which they obtain by harvesting prodigious amounts of leaves, petals, and various other plant parts from the vegetation surrounding the nest. When an ant scout finds a suitable bush or tree, it lays a scent trail back to the nest and summons the foragers. These medium sized ants (head widths of around 2 mm) cut out pieces of leaves and head clumsily back to the nest. All around them smaller ants weave to and fro, constantly scanning the surrounding terrain for danger. Some of these smaller ants may also hitchhike on the leaf fragments carried by their bigger sisters, although the function of this behavior is still unclear (Linksvayer et al 2002). One hypothesis is that the small ants are protecting their burdened comrades from tiny phorid flies that might lay eggs on the heads of the ants (the eggs hatch later and the growing larvae basically eat the heads of the unfortunate ants).
Once in awhile an observer can spot a large soldier as she gingerly steps over her rushing nestmates. These gigantic ants in some Atta species can have headwidths greater than 7 mm and total body lengths of more than 1.7 cm! Soldiers were generally thought to be highly specialized for defence, but new studies and observations have shown that soldiers in some species serve a variety of other functions (San Juan and Li, 2004a).
When the foragers get to the nest, they hand the leaves to smaller ants, who rush it to one of the many culture gardens. The leaves are then processed into smaller and smaller fragments by smaller and smaller ants, until the thoroughly masticated result is placed into the growing culture. These fluffy-looking fungus cultures are tended by the tiniest ants, who roam inside the numerous galleries that ramify throughout the culture and harvest special nutritional bodies produced by the fungi called "gongylidia". These tiny ants then distribute their bounty to the rest of the colony (although most of the harvested nutritional bodies are fed to the ant larvae).
In order to protect their fungus cultures and combat invading fungi pests, these ants employ antibiotics produced by a Streptomyces bacteria that lives on their skin, in addition to physically removing the invading fungi. This interaction between ant, bacteria, and fungus crop is one of the most intricate examples of mutualism in nature!
More facts:
Leafcutter ants are the only animals (besides humans) that take fresh plant matter and grow their own food from it.
Leafcutter ants use antibiotics from strains of bacteria to combat alien fungi that invade their "farms". The Streptomyces strains are found in specific body parts of the ants and are transmitted vertically across ant generations by the queens! Interestingly, the leafcutter ants have been able to ward off fairly successfully the invasions of pests for millions of years using these techniques, whereas we humans have only been doing it for a few decades, and already many of our bacterial foes have developed strong resistance against our array of antibiotics. Could we learn something from the ant?
Leafcutter ants are THE dominant herbivores in the neotropics, with the amount of vegetable matter being cut estimated at an astonishing 12-17% of annual leaf production. Damage (indirect and direct) has been estimated to be in the billions (USA dollars) annually. The grass cutting species reduce the carrying capacity of pasturelands in the area by as much as 10%!
Leafcutter ants utilize advanced waste management systems that prevent the spread of disease and pathogens in their vast underground cities. Waste (including exhausted and diseased fungi, dead ants, etc) is excluded from the colony proper by behavioral and architectural innovations. For example, there are specialized "heap workers" who spend their entire time in the huge waste heaps, turning over and aerating the garbage piles in order to hasten decomposition.
Atta large nests are architectural ant marvels, with some nests descending 6 meters deep, and with air circulation being controlled by the movement of warm air, flowing into the outer perimeter nest holes and out through the center holes.
The Atta have the largest size differential in workers right after the Pheidologeton. According to 'The Ants'..the head width varies 8-fold from smallest to largest, and the dry weight varies 200-fold...
The estimated populations for mature Atta colonies number in the millions (up to 8 million in some estimates)!
The large soldiers are so tough they can cut through leather!
Their colonies are models of efficiency, with the highly polymorphic workers each optimized for particular sets of tasks..at the smallest end you have the tiny workers who tend to the fungi and feed the rest; graded in the lower end are the workers that can perch on carried leaves and defend their sisters from marauding flies; in the middle to large range are workers who are optimized for cutting leaves and twigs; and in the largest sized workers we find individuals who specialize in defending the colony against large invertebrates and vertebrates.
btw: The large soldiers are so tough they can cut through leather!Wow...
Leafcutter ants cut leaves from plants and trees and grow fungus on these cut fragments. The ants use this fungus to feed their larvae (the ants themselves mostly imbibe plant sap from the cut leaf fragments). The true leafcutters are restricted to two genera of ants (Atta and Acromyrmex) comprising a total of about 38 species.
Leaf cutter ants are limited to the arid, semi-tropical and tropical regions of South, Central, and North America, but they are one of the ecologically-dominant ants everywhere they are found. They are arguably the most well-known of the ants to the local people and foreign tourists in these regions, mainly because of their spectacular habit of carrying colored petals or green leaves in foraging lines that may stretch more than 250 meters from their nest!
Leaf cutter ants have one of the most sophisticated animal societies in the world. This is because of their unusual method of farming (they are the only animal besides humans who grow their own food from living matter), their extremely large colony sizes (up to 8 million individuals per colony in one species, Atta sexdens), and their fantastic caste system (with ants of different sizes and forms specialized for various tasks in the colony).
Leaf cutter ants grow their fungus cultures on a substrate made of ground up plant matter, which they obtain by harvesting prodigious amounts of leaves, petals, and various other plant parts from the vegetation surrounding the nest. When an ant scout finds a suitable bush or tree, it lays a scent trail back to the nest and summons the foragers. These medium sized ants (head widths of around 2 mm) cut out pieces of leaves and head clumsily back to the nest. All around them smaller ants weave to and fro, constantly scanning the surrounding terrain for danger. Some of these smaller ants may also hitchhike on the leaf fragments carried by their bigger sisters, although the function of this behavior is still unclear (Linksvayer et al 2002). One hypothesis is that the small ants are protecting their burdened comrades from tiny phorid flies that might lay eggs on the heads of the ants (the eggs hatch later and the growing larvae basically eat the heads of the unfortunate ants).
Once in awhile an observer can spot a large soldier as she gingerly steps over her rushing nestmates. These gigantic ants in some Atta species can have headwidths greater than 7 mm and total body lengths of more than 1.7 cm! Soldiers were generally thought to be highly specialized for defence, but new studies and observations have shown that soldiers in some species serve a variety of other functions (San Juan and Li, 2004a).
When the foragers get to the nest, they hand the leaves to smaller ants, who rush it to one of the many culture gardens. The leaves are then processed into smaller and smaller fragments by smaller and smaller ants, until the thoroughly masticated result is placed into the growing culture. These fluffy-looking fungus cultures are tended by the tiniest ants, who roam inside the numerous galleries that ramify throughout the culture and harvest special nutritional bodies produced by the fungi called "gongylidia". These tiny ants then distribute their bounty to the rest of the colony (although most of the harvested nutritional bodies are fed to the ant larvae).
In order to protect their fungus cultures and combat invading fungi pests, these ants employ antibiotics produced by a Streptomyces bacteria that lives on their skin, in addition to physically removing the invading fungi. This interaction between ant, bacteria, and fungus crop is one of the most intricate examples of mutualism in nature!
More facts:
Leafcutter ants are the only animals (besides humans) that take fresh plant matter and grow their own food from it.
Leafcutter ants use antibiotics from strains of bacteria to combat alien fungi that invade their "farms". The Streptomyces strains are found in specific body parts of the ants and are transmitted vertically across ant generations by the queens! Interestingly, the leafcutter ants have been able to ward off fairly successfully the invasions of pests for millions of years using these techniques, whereas we humans have only been doing it for a few decades, and already many of our bacterial foes have developed strong resistance against our array of antibiotics. Could we learn something from the ant?
Leafcutter ants are THE dominant herbivores in the neotropics, with the amount of vegetable matter being cut estimated at an astonishing 12-17% of annual leaf production. Damage (indirect and direct) has been estimated to be in the billions (USA dollars) annually. The grass cutting species reduce the carrying capacity of pasturelands in the area by as much as 10%!
Leafcutter ants utilize advanced waste management systems that prevent the spread of disease and pathogens in their vast underground cities. Waste (including exhausted and diseased fungi, dead ants, etc) is excluded from the colony proper by behavioral and architectural innovations. For example, there are specialized "heap workers" who spend their entire time in the huge waste heaps, turning over and aerating the garbage piles in order to hasten decomposition.
Atta large nests are architectural ant marvels, with some nests descending 6 meters deep, and with air circulation being controlled by the movement of warm air, flowing into the outer perimeter nest holes and out through the center holes.
The Atta have the largest size differential in workers right after the Pheidologeton. According to 'The Ants'..the head width varies 8-fold from smallest to largest, and the dry weight varies 200-fold...
The estimated populations for mature Atta colonies number in the millions (up to 8 million in some estimates)!
The large soldiers are so tough they can cut through leather!
Their colonies are models of efficiency, with the highly polymorphic workers each optimized for particular sets of tasks..at the smallest end you have the tiny workers who tend to the fungi and feed the rest; graded in the lower end are the workers that can perch on carried leaves and defend their sisters from marauding flies; in the middle to large range are workers who are optimized for cutting leaves and twigs; and in the largest sized workers we find individuals who specialize in defending the colony against large invertebrates and vertebrates.
Leafcutter Ants
This video depicts the leaf...
This video depicts the leaf...
