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Leafcutter ants do not eat most of the leaves they harvest; they process them into a growing medium for a domesticated fungus that feeds the colony.

Leafcutter ant

NatureBiologyFoodScience

The story behind the card

Leafcutter ants grow a single fungus, Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, which is not known to live anywhere outside their nests. Ants began farming fungi around 50 to 60 million years ago; leafcutters are a much younger branch of that lineage, and their crop is passed from nest to nest rather than gathered from the wild. A young queen leaving to found a colony carries a small pellet of it in a pouch inside her mouth. Many colonies also have a third partner: bacteria called Pseudonocardia, grown on the ants' bodies, make antibiotics that help keep down Escovopsis, a mould that can wipe out the fungus garden. A mature nest of Atta leafcutters can house several million ants in chambers reaching several metres underground.

Türkçe oku
Yaprak kesen karıncalar topladıkları yaprakların çoğunu yemez. Yaprakları çiğneyip yuvada yetiştirdikleri bir mantara zemin yaparlar; koloniyi besleyen de bu mantardır.

Yaprak kesen karıncaların yetiştirdiği mantar tek bir türdür: Leucoagaricus gongylophorus. Bu mantarın karınca yuvaları dışında yaşadığı bilinmiyor. Karıncalar mantar yetiştirmeye yaklaşık 50 ile 60 milyon yıl önce başladı; yaprak kesenler bu soyun çok daha genç bir koludur. Ürün doğadan toplanmaz, yuvadan yuvaya aktarılır: yeni bir koloni kurmak için yola çıkan genç kraliçe, ağzının içindeki küçük bir cepte bir parça mantar taşır. Birçok kolonide üçüncü bir ortak da vardır. Karıncaların vücudunda yaşayan Pseudonocardia bakterileri antibiyotik üretir ve mantar bahçesini yok edebilen Escovopsis adlı küfü baskı altında tutar. Olgun bir Atta yuvasında milyonlarca karınca yaşayabilir; odaları yerin metrelerce altına iner.

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Background reading: Leafcutter ant
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