Studies on Leaf-Cutting ants (original) (raw)
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The interplay between leaf-cutter ants behaviour and social organization
Journal of Umm Al-Qura University for Applied Sciences
Leaf-cutter ants (Atta and Acromyrmex species) exhibit complex social organizations that have fascinated scientists for decades. The leaf-cutter ants belong to a subgroup of fungus-growing ants, which live with fungus inside their nests. The behaviours exhibited by these ants are closely linked to their social organization, which involves intricate division of labour, caste systems, and cooperative tasks. This review article provides an overview of the behaviors associated with the social organization of leaf-cutter ants. It explores various aspects of their social organization, including foraging behavior, hitchhiking behaviour, hygienic behaviour, social organization and environmental influences. The leaf cutter ants have the instinct to forage, as they walk around the nest to cut leaf fragments from plants, then transport those fragments with their jaws and go back to the nest to cultivate a special fungus garden within the colony. By synthesizing existing knowledge, this review ...
Larval isolation and brood care in Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants
Insectes Sociaux, 2005
The larvae of leaf-cutting ants are maintained within the fungus gardens of their colonies and are fed pieces of fungus by the adult workers. However, little else is known about the nature of the worker-larva interaction in these ecologically important ants. To examine whether workers can gauge the needs of individual larvae, we isolated larvae without adult workers for different lengths of time. We then placed workers with the larvae and recorded the type and frequency of the subsequent behaviours of the workers. Workers scraped the mouthparts of larvae, ingested their faecal fl uid, fed them with fungal hyphae, transported them around the fungus garden and, most frequently, licked their bodies. The workers were also observed to 'plant' fungal hyphae on the bodies of larvae. Workers interacted more frequently with larvae that had been isolated without workers than with those that had not, but there was no effect of the length of isolation. The results suggest that the interactions are complex, involving a number of behaviours that probably serve different functions, and that workers are to some extent able to assess the individual needs of larvae.
Daily Foraging Activity of Acromyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Leaf-cutting Ants
Leaf-cutting ants are well-known insects due to their remarkable activity as herbivores and the considerable economic damage they cause to many crops. The identification of season and time of day when leaf-cutting ants are most active is an important tool, not just to understand the foraging ecology of these ants, but also to optimize their control in plantation areas where they are pests. Thus, the aims of this study are to evaluate the daily foraging activity of leafcutting ant species of the genus Acromyrmex, which occur in forest plantations in Southern Brazil. Foraging activity of Acromyrmex crassispinus (Forel) and Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus (Forel) were correlated with weather conditions, and it was more intense during spring and summer. Workers that forage at night are significantly heavier than workers that forage during the day. This study showed that A. crassispinus and A. subterraneus subterraneus did not forage at temperatures below 10-11°C. Then, the use of granulated baits to control these leaf-cutting ants species where they are pests should be done just under favorable conditions of temperature for Acromyrmex foraging activity (over 12°C), to ensure maximum collection of baits by ants and the least left-over baits.
The Effect of nest Size and Species Identity on Plant Selection in Acromyrmex Leaf-Cutting Ants
Sociobiology, 2018
Introduction Leaf-cutting ants, Atta Forel and Acromyrmex Mayr, are considered the dominant herbivores of the Neotropical Region (Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990). The workers cut, collect and carry plant fragments to the nest where they grow a symbiotic fungus, the main food source of larvae (Cherrett, 1989). These ants forage on a large number of plant species, but generally most of their diet consists of a few selected ones (Rockwood & Hubbel, 1987; Franzel & Farji-Brener, 2000). There are external and intrinsic factors that can influence the diet composition of leaf-cutting ants. On one hand, the number and amount of plant species harvested depend on their diversity, nutritional quality, chemical/physical defenses, abundance and spatio-temporal distribution (Nichols-Orians &
Brazilian Journal of …, 2006
Leaf-cutting ants live in symbiosis with a basidiomycete fungus that is exploited as a source of nutrients for ant larvae. Tests of brood transport revealed that Acromyrmex laticeps nigrosetosus workers did not discriminate a concolonial brood from an alien brood. The same result was observed with tests of fungus transport. Adult workers showed no aggressive behaviour to workers from other alien colonies (non-nestmates). There was no qualitative variation in the chemical profiles of larvae, pupae and adult workers from the different colonies. However, quantitative differences were observed between the different colonies. Hypotheses about the lack of intraspecific aggression in this subspecies of ants are discussed.
Undertaking specialization in the desert leaf-cutter ant Acromyrmex versicolor
Animal Behaviour, 1999
We investigated undertaking behaviour in the desert leaf-cutter ant to determine whether colonies show undertaking specialization, how task specialization is regulated and the consequences of specialization on colony performance. Task specialization has been hypothesized to be a result of internal physiological or genetic factors that govern worker behaviour. On the other hand, it has been suggested that task specialization could be a result of spatial structuring of workers allowing only a subset to have the opportunity to perform certain tasks. To test between these two hypotheses, we experimentally introduced dead ants into laboratory colonies with individually marked workers, and recorded all encounters and undertaking behaviours. Workers demonstrated individual specialization, in that some workers removed the dead ant more frequently than expected from encounter rate. Although individual workers differed in their opportunity to perform undertaking, this did not account for the specialization. These results suggest that undertaking specialization is governed by internal differences among workers. In addition, undertaking specialists removed corpses more successfully, and in the largest colony, more quickly, than nonspecialist workers, indicating that internally governed specialization is an important part of overall colony efficiency.
Leaf-Cutting Ants, Biology and Control
Sustainable Agriculture Reviews
are found on the American continent and in the Caribbean and are known to live in symbiosis with a fungus. Among Attini tribe, Atta and Acromyrmex are the two genera, which commonly depend on fresh plant leaves and other plant material for their fungal garden. Overall, these ants are among the most economically damaging herbivorous species. A. octospinosus is classified among the most serious pests of tropical and subtropical America. Due to its foraging activity, it can cause serious damages from 20 to 30 % of crop production. Huge losses were observed in several vegetable and fruit crops, in crop of cacao or citrus orchards and in protected areas where some species may completely disappear due to their endemism. Economic losses due to these ants were estimated at several million dollars per year. Although Acromyrmex octospinosus is one of the most important species of leaf-cutters because of its economic impact there is a lack of review in the literature.
Two castes sizes of leafcutter ants in task partitioning in foraging activity
Ciência Rural, 2016
ABSTRACT: Task partitioning in eusocial animals is most likely an evolutionary adaptation that optimizes the efficiency of the colony to grow and reproduce. It was investigated indirect task partitioning in two castes sizes; this involves task partitioning in which the material transported is not transferred directly from one individual to another, but where it is dropped by one ant to be picked up by another. In two separate approaches, it was confirmed previous results pertaining to leaf caching activities among Atta colombica with task partitioning activities involving leaf dropping among Atta sexdens rubropilosa , in which there is a correlation between the size of an individual ant and the leaf fragment it transports. It was also suggested that this correlation exists only in individual ants that cut and transport (CaT) the same fragment to the nest. When task partitioning occurs and individual ants transporting (T) leaf fragments cut by other ants, the correlation becomes loos...