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.
Sericomyrmex amabilis. A fungus-growing ant worker carefully tends to a larva. Note the other ant eggs and larvae that are embedded within the fluffy white hyphae of the fungus garden.
Parque Soberania, Panama; Laboratory colony at the University of Texas
Sericomyrmex amabilis. A fungus-growing ant worker carefully tends to a larva. Note the other ant eggs and larvae that are embedded within the fluffy white hyphae of the fungus garden.
Parque Soberania, Panama; Laboratory colony at the University of Texas
Canon EOS 20D |
Original size: 3504x2332 |
Current: 800x533 |
