leaf cutter ant
Fungus-farming insect
Leaf cutter ants are tropical ants that cut pieces from leaves and carry them back to their colonies—not to eat directly, but to cultivate fungus gardens that serve as their food source.
The sight of a column of these ants, each bearing a leaf fragment many times its size, is distinctive: A trail of leaf cutter ants stripped the bush overnight.
- ant colonySocial insect community
- colonyDependent territorial settlement
- fungusSpore-bearing organism
- jungleDense tropical forest
- rainforestWet tropical woodland ecosystem
foraging · forest floor · mandibles · trail · nest · queen · worker ants · soldier · worker · underground · underground chambers · decompose · tropical · marching · carrying · agriculture · parasol · minima
- rainforeststropical rainforest, canopy layer, forest floor, emergent layer, understory
- South American animalsjaguar, capybara, llama, alpaca, piranha
- Mesoamerican naturejaguar, quetzal, howler monkey, spider monkey, tapir
- social insectsworkers, colony, queen, nest, brood
- leafcutter antsleafcutter ant, leafcutter ants, atta, worker caste, queen
- Amazon RainforestAmazon, tropical rainforest, Amazon rainforest, Amazon basin, jungle