Ants

Ants

Trinidad Leaf Cutting Ants

Leafcutter ants are social insects found in warmer regions of the Americas. These unique ants have evolved an advanced agricultural system based on ant-fungus mutualism. They feed on special structures called gongylidia produced by a specialized fungus that grows only in the underground chambers of the ants’ nest.

Winged females and males leave their respective nests en masse and engage in a nuptial flight known as the revoada. Each female mates with multiple males to collect the 300 million sperm she needs to set up a colony.Once on the ground the female loses her wings and searches for a suitable underground lair in which to found her colony.

The success rate of these young queens is very low and only 2.5% will go on to establish a long-lived colony. In order to start her own fungus garden, the queen stores bits of the parental fungus garden mycelium in her infrabuccal pocket, which is located within her oral cavity.

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