Leaf Cutter Ants

Famous Quotes about Ants:
“The more ants are studied the more they reveal capabilities that exceed their small size.”
-Whit Gibbons

“Look to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. . . . She prepares her food in summer, and gathers her sustenance in harvest”
Proverbs 6:6
-King Solomon

“It's not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?”
-Thoreau

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
-Aesop’s Fables

A Close View of an Army Ant Soldier with Formidible Pincers0302

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	Name		Leaf Cutter Ants

	Brief Description		Member of the Arthropoda Myrmicinae family

	Extended Description		Leafcutter ants are social insects found in warmer regions of Central and South America. These unique ants have evolved an advanced agricultural system based on ant-fungus mutualism. They feed on a specialized fungus that grows only in the underground chambers of the ants' nest. Different species of leafcutter ants use different species of fungus, but all of the fungi the ants use are members of the Lepiotaceae family. The ants actively cultivate their fungus, feeding it with freshly-cut plant material and maintaining it free from pests and molds. This symbiotic relationship is further augmented by another symbiotic partner, a bacterium that grows on the ants and secretes chemicals, or secondary metabolites, which protect the fungus from molds that would feed on the fungus - essentially the ants use portable antimicrobials. When the ants happen to bring back toxic leaves, the fungus secretes a chemical that warns the ant not to collect any more of that type of leaf


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