Tanvi Patel Leaf Cutter Ants: Interesting Facts Mating: Winged Queens mate with Males in the air;

; males die and queens shed wings and begin colony Jobs: caring for the brood (eggs & larva), maintaining the nest, gathering leaves, protecting the colony (soldiers) Symbiotic Relationship: leaf-cutter ants and fungus need each other to survive o The ants shelter, feed, protect, and disperse the fungus o The fungus provides the ants with food o Only animals to make their own food from plants Time for Work different colonies of leaf-cutter ants have a daily rhythm where they work more at certain times of the day; some even change that based on seasons The ants leave behind scent trails to find their way back home or to a food source Social Hierarchy: different sizes mean different jobs largest size difference from largest to smallest largest 8 times larger head width than smallest and largest has 200 times more dry weight than the smallest o Minima (workers): stay inside the colony in the fungus garden; sometimes work as heap workers to keep the colony clean o Media and Maxima (workers): leave the colony to forage for leaves (stronger and bigger jaws) o Soldier: largest ants, protect the colony can cut through leather o Queen: can lay thousands of eggs a day

Sources: http://www.arkive.org/leaf-cutter-ant/atta-cephalotes/ http://cincinnatizoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/FactSheet-AntLeafCutter2010.pdf http://www.blueboard.com/leafcutters/why.htm