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LEAF CUTTING ANTS
COMMON NAME:
SCIENTIFIC NAME:
CLASS / ORDER / FAMILY:
METAMORPHOSIS:
Leafcutting, fungus-growing, fungus, parasol, pack, night, and cut ants
Attaspp.Insecta/Hymenoptera/Formicidae
INTRODUCTION. These ants get their common name of leafcutting and cut ants from their habit of cutting up leaves into small pieces. Parasol ants comes from their carrying the leaf pieces over their heads on the way back to the nest like a parasol. Fungus-growing comes from the fact that the leaf pieces are processed and then used as the food substrate for growing fungus which the ants eat as food. Leafcutting ants are of concern in the urban setting because of their ability to rapidly remove all leaves, flowers, and/or fruits from trees, shrubs, etc., and because of their fierce bite. In the united States only 2 species of Atta are found, A. mexicana (F. Smith) in Arizona and A. texana (Buckley) in Texas and Louisiana. This treatment will discuss only the Texas leafcutting ant, A. texana, which is found in scattered locations in south central and eastern Texas and western Louisiana.
RECOGNITION. Workers polymorphic, 1/16-1/2" (1.5-12 mm) long; minor 1/16" (1.5-2.5 mm), media 1/8-3/8" (3-9 mm), soldier/major 3/8-1/2" (10-12 mm), male 1/2-3/4" (13-18 mm), queen 5/8-1" (17-24 mm) long. color usually rust brown to dull dark brown, legs and gaster usually paler. Head with 4 pairs of spines, mandibles large, flattened, and scissorlike. Antenna li-segmented, without distinct club. Thorax with 3 pairs of spines, front pair largest; legs very long. Pedicel 2-segmented. Stinger present but not used, capable of inflicting painful bites which draw blood.
BIOLOGY. These ants build their nests only in soil, usually in well-drained sandy or loamy soils. The nests are often on slopes with a southern or western exposure and are often located near creeks and rivers. The nest can be quite large, covering up to 4,500 sq ft in area and extending up to 20 ft in depth. Nest openings are 11/8-2 3/8" in diameter and are located in mounds of excavated soil some 2-11 in diameter and up to 2+ ft high. These openings are numerous
(1000+) in very large nests and their surrounding mounds are typically higher on one side or crescent shaped in some cases. A few of these openings are used as entrances/exits but most serve to ventilate the underground chambers. Nests consist of numerous large chambers connected by tunnels; 911 chambers in one large nest. On very hot days the nest openings will be closed with soil and/or debris to conserve moisture in the fungal gardens/chambers. Mature nests may contain in excess of one million individuals but only one queen who is long-lived. Some very old colonies may occupy the same area for 60-70 years.
Swarming usually takes place from early April into June on a clear, moonless night or just before dawn on such a night. Swarmers are attracted to lights by the thousands. Queens may fly up to 6.5 mi. Founding queens may suffer up to 50% mortality by workers of other colonies.
HABITS. Leafcutting ants harvest plant parts of both monocotyledons (grasses etc.,) and dichotyledons. There is an assembly-line harvest of the plant part by it first being cut by the larger ants, then this plant piece being cut into smaller pieces by smaller ants, etc. until the very small ants make the plant pulp substrate upon which the fungus is grown. Any plant part which can support fungal growth will be harvested including leaves, flowers, berries, and stems. They harvest one kind of plant at a time and then move on to another kind. They can literally strip a tree or hedgerow clean of all its leaves overnight. Needless-to-say this usually causes great concern for the homeowner. It should be noted that workers have been observed transporting other foods such as caterpillar droppings, corn, cornmeal, flour, rice, peas, wheat, oats, chops, bread, cake, chicken feed, sugar, beans, and ground coffee.
These ants will forage as far as 600 ft (182 m) from the nest. Quite often workers will leave pieces of leaf along the sides of the foraging trail and piles of leaf pieces near the nest entrance. They forage when the temperature is between 45~900 which means that they will usually be in their nest during the hottest part of the day with the openings closed, and foraging mostly at night during the summer. It is not unusual for them to be found nesting in urban neighborhoods. They may occasionally enter a structure, but they quickly leave.
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