leaf-cutter ants
Jungle foliage harvesters
Leaf-cutter ants are tropical American ants that cut pieces from leaves and carry them back to their underground colonies—not to eat directly, but to cultivate fungus gardens that serve as their food source.
The sight of a trail of ants carrying leaf fragments many times their body size is distinctive: A column of leaf-cutter ants stripped the bush overnight.
Plant consumption by animals
- defoliationLoss of foliage
- neotropicalLatin American biogeographic zone
- biodiversityRange of life forms
- pestHarmful creature or nag
Path through wilderness
- pheromoneBehavior-altering bodily secretion
- recruitmentSeeking new personnel
- caravanTraveling group with goods
- highwayMajor road for travel
nocturnal · canopy · defoliation · scout · laden · stridulation · hitchhiker
Fungal filament network
- cultivarBred plant variety
- mutualismTwo-way biological benefit
- substrateUnderlying supporting material
- compostingDecomposing organic matter deliberately
antibiotics · weeding · symbiont · monoculture · harvest · tending
Lower facial bone
- antennaBroadcast signal receiver
- exoskeletonExternal skeletal structure
- carryingHolding and moving
- minimaLowest possible quantities
media · maxima · polymorphism · head · thorax · abdomen · leg · spiracle
Study of insects
- HymenopteraInsect order with membrane wings
- researchSystematic fact-finding effort
- behaviorManner of conducting oneself
- eusocialCooperative breeding with castes
herbivory
Plant consumption by animals
- defoliationLoss of foliage
- neotropicalLatin American biogeographic zone
- biodiversityRange of life forms
pest · biomass · decomposition
trail
Path through wilderness
- pheromoneBehavior-altering bodily secretion
- recruitmentSeeking new personnel
- caravanTraveling group with goods
highway · nocturnal · canopy · defoliation · scout · laden · stridulation · hitchhiker
mycelium
Fungal filament network
- cultivarBred plant variety
- mutualismTwo-way biological benefit
- substrateUnderlying supporting material
composting · antibiotics · weeding · symbiont · monoculture · harvest · tending
mandible
Lower facial bone
- antennaBroadcast signal receiver
- exoskeletonExternal skeletal structure
- carryingHolding and moving
minima · media · maxima · polymorphism · head · thorax · abdomen · leg · spiracle · cuticle
entomology
Study of insects
- HymenopteraInsect order with membrane wings
- researchSystematic fact-finding effort
- behaviorManner of conducting oneself
queen
Most powerful chess piece
larva · pupa · caste · nest · chamber · brood · mound · superorganism · swarm · founding
- rainforestrainforest, jungle, tropical, tropics, canopy
- antsfire ant, ant colony, carpenter ant, ant colonies, harvester ant
- leafcutter antsleafcutter ant, atta, worker caste, queen, forager
- fungus insectsfungus gnats
- insectsant, bee, bees, butterfly, butterflies
leaf-cutter antsarmy ants
Nomadic predatory insect colony
carrion beetles · vultures · dung beetles · detritivores · parasitic wasps
leaf-cutter antsdecomposers
Organisms breaking down dead material
apex predators · scavengers · army ants · termites · parasites
leaf, cutter, leaves, leafy, leaflet, leafed, leafless, cuts, cutting