Sericomyrmex amabilis

A fungus-growing ant worker in the garden. Parque Soberania, Panama; Laboratory colony at the University of Texas

Sericomyrmex amabilis

Spires of cultivated fungus inside the nest of a Sericomyrmex amabilis ant colony. 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

Sericomyrmex amabilis

An ant worker tends to brood in the fungus garden. Note how the eggs and larvae are embedded within the fluffy white hyphae of the fungus. Parque Soberania, Panama; Laboratory colony at the University of Texas

Sericomyrmex amabilis

Parque Soberania, Panama; Laboratory colony at the University of Texas

Sericomyrmex mayri

Ants of this genus normally feed their fungus bits of detritus and dead vegetation, but they will occassionally use live vegetation like their better-known leafcutter ant cousins. Refugio Amazonas, Tambopata, Peru.