LEAF CUTTER ANT
Atta cephalotes
Arthropod
Order Hymenoptera
Description
A relatively large ant with a spiny body and long legs. The
workers range from 1/10 to 1/2 inch in size. The males are 1/2 inch, and
the queens may measure up to one inch long.
Range
Central and South America. North to south Texas.
Status
Habitat destruction is the ants only serious threat.
Photo © Greg Neise |
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Ecology
- Habitat
- Tropical rain forests.
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- Niche
- Diurnal, nocturnal and mainly subterran an living in the basement of
the forest floor, up to 12 feet below the tree roots.
Life History
Worker ants crawl to the surface to collect leaves. Being very selective
about the species of leaves they collect, causes these ants to travel several
hundred yards on leaf gathering expeditions. The ants leave an invisible
scent on the trails they use in order to find their way home. Once back
at the colony, the workers chew the leaves into a pulp, making a bed of
fertilizer on which a special type of fungus is grown. This fungus is not
found anywhere outside the Atta colonies. The genus Atta cultivates several
kinds of fungus, but each individual species sticks to one kind.
Special Adaptations
- Leaf cutter ants take dead ants and other waste to an underground dump
site or to a trash dump above ground. This waste is nutrientrich and is
quickly recycled in the forest.
- These ants collect leaves from all layers of the forest, from the upper
canopy to the forest floor.
- Their method of leaf gathering prevents trees ouside the colony from
being stripped bare like the ones inside the colony's immediate vicinity.
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