Leafcutter Ant
The leafcutter ant are mainly found in Central and South America, but have got as far north as Oklahoma. The leafcutter ant are seen carrying pieces of leaves but do not eat these leaves. The leaves are brought to the colony and is used to make a fungus found deep into the massive group of chambers. aka Town ant
Here the leaves are cut up into a slimy mulch and cleaned of any interfering contaminate. They lick the leaves in their process of cleaning that gets rid of any protective film on the leaf.
Now the matter is treated with a specialized substance the breaks down the leaves' proteins.
Next, a fungal hyphae is put on the matter. When the hyphae grows it gives up a gongylidia that is then fed to the ant colony.
Castes of the colony
The leafcutter ants has several castes which are mainly made up of females. The males are drones and are only used to mate with the queen. Depending on the size of the colony you can find 1 to 3 queens.
The other castes are:
minims are the smallest workers and manage the growing brood or care for the fungus patches.
minors are a little larger minim workers and are present in large numbers and are the first line of defense and continuously patrol the surrounding area and attack any enemies that threaten.
mediae are the generalized hunters, who cut the leaves and bring the leaf parts back to the nest.
majors are the larger worker ants and are the soldiers, defending the nest from trespassers, clearing the main foraging trails of large debris and bringing the bulky items back to the nest.
The queen
The job of the queen of the leafcutter ant is to lay eggs and start new colonies. If a queen wants to start a new colony she takes a patch of hyphae from the garden and goes out searching for a drone and mates with him. Then she goes looking for a new place to start a new colony. Lays her thousands of eggs.
The new colony
When the ants hatch they immediately begin their work by leaving the colony and stripping a plant of its leaves to take back to the nest. Other ants then chew and place the leaves.
Drones and queens are the only ants that can fly, and they look like stingless wasps. The queen then will lose her wings.
Incredible ants
leaves may be up to 40 times their weight, which is like a human that weighs 200 pounds carring 8000 pounds.
can have a colony of 3000 chambers.
the population of the colony may reach 5,000,000.
The phorid fly may be the only true enemy of this ant.
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