Strange Strange (Hairy and also Lanky) Little Girls
These Apterostigma ants are really strange girls. I mean REALLY strange. They live under leaves rather like weaver ants, but they build a nest of fungi ... like leaf cutter ants... but they don't cut leaves-- they hide their nests with bits of bark.
No other ants are like this. Amazing. This one is called by the species name "electropilosum" look at her and you can see why.
These ants move very slowly, gently tending their little farms. Just lanky hairy girls trying to make it in the jungle. You gotta love them. There are a nice collection of these ants on iNaturalist.
Some of them do seem to use leaves in their fungus, others do not. They are also on the larger size, towering over smaller ants in many photos.
Their nests are made of the fungi they eat and unlike anything else I know that ants might build.
Does any other creature make a house out of edible fungi? What if you could just eat things from the walls of your house? These ants are so advanced. I thought paper making ants were wild!
