“Leafcutter ants cultivated fungi millions of years before humans developed agriculture.”
Leafcutter ants harvest vegetation not to eat the leaves, but to cultivate fungus in underground gardens. Their tropical American colonies divide cutting, carrying, defense, gardening, and brood care among workers of different sizes.
By An Nguyen · Published · Updated
Browse photographs of leafcutter ant across habitat, behavior, anatomy, and life stages.
Click any photo to view it larger. 8 images available.
Core article
A closer look at habitat, diet, behavior, reproduction, and conservation.
The leafcutter ant (Atta cephalotes) lives in tropical forests and savannas of the Americas. Workers cut vegetation and carry it underground, but they do not eat the leaves directly. Instead, the colony processes the plant material as a growing medium for a mutualistic fungus that serves as the colony's food source. Large colonies can contain millions of ants and may remove the leaves from a tree within a night.
The leafcutter ant is a eusocial member of the order Hymenoptera.
The genus Atta belongs to the tribe Attini, which contains fungus-growing ants. A. cephalotes cultivates the fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus. The ants provide processed vegetation, remove contaminants, and regulate the garden's microclimate. In return, the fungus produces nutrient-rich swellings called gongylidia that the colony consumes. Each partner depends on the association to complete its normal life cycle.
A mature colony contains sterile female workers of different sizes, a condition called polymorphism. Workers range from about 2 mm to 24 mm long, and size is associated with different tasks.
Leafcutter ants are strictly New World insects. Atta cephalotes is widely distributed across the neotropics.
It is a common misconception that leafcutter ants eat leaves. They are, in fact, strict fungivores.
Feeding a colony of up to 5 million individuals involves a sequence of specialized tasks:
A leafcutter ant colony is often described as a superorganism because reproduction, foraging, defense, and fungus care are distributed among many specialized individuals.
Communication is primarily chemical and mechanical. Ants use pheromones to signal alarm, guide traffic, and mark food sources. They also stridulate by rubbing abdominal structures together. The resulting vibrations travel through soil and plant material and can recruit workers to vegetation or a damaged nest tunnel.
A mature nest may span 30 feet and extend 20 feet below ground, with thousands of connected chambers. Openings and shafts interact with surface wind and temperature differences to move carbon dioxide out and oxygen into the fungus chambers.
A new colony begins with a mated queen and a small sample of fungus from her natal nest.
(Population and conservation trend data sourced from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species)
Atta cephalotes is classified as Least Concern and remains widespread in suitable habitat.
Leafcutter ants can become agricultural pests when colonies remove foliage from citrus groves or plantations. In natural ecosystems, their foraging alters vegetation, while excavation aerates soil and transfers nutrients below ground.
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Class
Insecta
Order
Hymenoptera
Family
Formicidae
Genus
Atta
Species
A. cephalotes
Leafcutter ants cultivated fungi millions of years before humans developed agriculture.
A single leafcutter ant can carry a piece of leaf that is 50 times heavier than its own body.
A mature underground colony can contain up to 5 million ants and span more than 30 feet.
Workers occur in different size groups, including small gardeners, leaf cutters, and large soldiers.
When a new queen leaves to start a new nest, she carries a tiny bit of the mother colony's fungus in a special pocket.
They do not eat the leaves they cut; they use them as compost to feed and grow their underground fungus gardens.
Select a question to reveal the answer.
A leafcutter ant cuts vegetation and carries it to an underground nest, where the material supports a cultivated fungus. The ants live in colonies with specialized worker roles.
No, they do not eat the leaves. Instead, they chew the leaves into a paste and use it to grow a special type of fungus, which is the only food the colony eats.
A leafcutter ant can carry a leaf fragment weighing up to about 50 times its own body weight.
They cut pieces of leaves and carry them underground to feed fungus gardens, not to eat the leaves directly.
Leafcutter ants eat a special fungus that grows on the plant pieces they collect.
They live in tropical and subtropical forests and grasslands of Central and South America.
Yes. They live in large colonies with queens, workers, soldiers, and carefully maintained fungus chambers.
Related animals
