Kalathomyrmex emeryi Los Reartes, Córdoba, Argentina - Alex Wild Photography - Insect Photography - Insect Pictures

Farming Ants: Leafcutters and Fungus Growers

Hundreds of ant species live as farmers in the warmer regions of North and South America. These insects- a single evolutionary radiation- cultivate an edible fungus fed with bits of vegetative debris, or in the case of the leafcutter ants, with live vegetation.

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Mycetosoritis hartmanni in their subterranean fungus garden. The fungus- a white stringy material- grows between the bits of debris fed to it by the ants. The ants then feed from the fungus- a true agricultural system.

Smithville, Texas, USA

An Apterostigma forager carries a bit of debris back to her nest.

Carrancas, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Kalathomyrmex emeryi

Los Reartes, Córdoba, Argentina

A half meter underground, a small colony of Mycesoritis hartmanni cultivates their fungus in a garden hung from the chamber ceiling.

Smithville, Texas, USA

The intricate galleries of a fungus garden of Mycetosoritis hartmanni in a laboratory colony.

Texas, USA

Mycetosoritis hartmanni nest, cutaway of the soil to reveal a pair of golf ball-sized fungus gardens.

Smithville, Texas, USA

Inside the fungus garden of the asexual ant Mycocepurus smithii.

Panama

Inside the fungus garden of the asexual ant Mycocepurus smithii.

Panama

Mycocepurus smithii, on a fungal thread at the periphery of the fungus garden. The ants are true agriculturalists, cultivating an edible fungus on a substrate of assorted debris.

Panama

Kalathomyrmex emeryi

Los Reartes, Córdoba, Argentina

Kalathomyrmex emeryi

Los Reartes, Córdoba, Argentina

Kalathomyrmex emeryi

Los Reartes, Córdoba, Argentina

Canon EOS 20D |

More details: exif |

Original size: 3206x2160 |

Current: 800x539 |

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Keywords: hymenoptera formicidae myrmicinae worker ant attini ant head ant agriculture fungus growing ant ant working lower attines kalathomyrmex emeryi mycetophylax emeryi mycetophylax kalathomyrmex ant digging

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