Leafcutter Ant - Atta sp. Atta cephalotes

Leafcutter Ants are farmers. Unlike the many garden ants that farm aphids for honeydew and meat, Leafcutters grow their own food. The leaves they cut and carry back to their nests are chewed but not eaten, they are used to grow fungus which the ants eat.

There are 47 species of Leafcutter Ant in two genera: Atta and Acromyrmex, all native to the Americas. Shown here are Atta cephalotes, native from Mexico to northern South America and the Caribbean.

Like other ant colonies, each "caste" of ant has a specific role: queens lay eggs, workers, which are all female, have tasks including cutting leaves but also soldiers, tunnel construction and repair, cleaners (particularly of toxic fungus and dead bodies) and nursing the larvae. The cutters can carry some 10 times their own weight or more. Males are produced only for mating flights.

Most Leafcutters are orange-brown, strong, long-legged ants with spiny bodies. The cutters have very powerful jaws which vibrate like power tools to slice leaves. They can also give a strong bite but have no sting or venom.

The fungus-making factories.

There are a few million ants in a colony and the colony will survive as long as the queen survives - she can live over 15 years.