Ants are complex and fascinating creatures that have been around since the dinosaurs. But because of their tiny size, it's easy to overlook the enormous role they play in nature.

A leaf-cutter ant. Leaf-cutter ants harvest leaves, chop them into nutritious pulp, feed the pulp to nourish their cultivated crops of fungus, and harvest the fungus to feed themselves.

The leaf cutter ant (Atta rodona) is a fungus-growing ant that inhabits tropical regions like Manu. Groups of these ants are often seen at night dismantling area vegetation leaf by leaf. During a ...

A: Leaf-cutting ants are often difficult to manage.Although plants can be protected temporarily using insecticides, they need to be reapplied frequently, and these chemicals kill other insects ...

To Costa Ricans, the leaf-cutter ant can be one of the biggest pests to cause severe agricultural decay in parts of the country. To tourists, a trail of the hard-working red insects can appear as a ...

In leaf-cutter ants, this coating is made of thousands of tiny, plate-like crystals that harden their exoskeleton. This “armor” helps prevent the insects from losing limbs in battles with ...

The Year the Leaf-Cutter Ants Took Manhattan In January, the American Museum of Natural History’s new insectarium gained 500,000 tenants. It has taken them some time to find their footing.

A well-known leaf-cutting ant grows its own body armor using biominerals, a protective power previously unknown in the insect world, scientists have discovered in research published Tuesday showing ...

Never in my life have I seen so much news on leaf-cutting ants! Ok, ok, there's only two findings but that still seems like a lot. Most ants work in a kind of caste society, dividing labor among ...

Leaf-cutter ants struggle to carry wet leaves, so they run to avoid rain. Skip to content. Subscribe or renew today Every print subscription comes with full digital access.

Like fire ants, these creatures are imported from Central and South America and have no natural enemies in our area. This very comprehensive site from Texas A&M AgriLIFE Extension, Leaf Cutting ...

Second only to humans, leaf cutter ants form the largest and most complex society on earth; one nest can be as large as 30 metres in diameter and house up to 8 million individuals. The ants use ...