#leafcutter ants

[briery]

Leafcutter ant nests in South America, excavated by Luiz Forti and colleagues.

[roaches-are-forever]

by Janell Cannon, from Crickwing (2000)

[deermouth]

Leafcutter ants, Belize

[futurebird]

She's a cutting machine! Like a circle cutter with legs come to life!

Her body is designed to cut and haul maximum LEAF.

What a triumph!

Oh you might not like it. You might get mad. But THIS is what peak performance looks like:

The book “Gardening Ants: The Attines” (Weber) is old but it has so many banger illustrations. Here is one showing the size difference in Atta cephalotes minors and majors. This difference is entirely caused by how the ants are fed and cared for. Ants have so much variability in gene expression and they use it to shape their population to fit the work that needs to be done. (I love the naturalistic placement of the minor on the major’s head, they do hang out like this.)

When atta are cutting a leaf they make stridulations (vibrations too hight-pitched for human hearing) by moving their exoskeleton. This noise isn't just a result of the cutting, it's an extra noise that carries through the plant, letting other ants know the quality of the leaf. The higher quality the leaf the more intense the sounds she will make calling more ants to the place where the leaves are at the perfect level of development for fungus farming.

Wonder if plants are alarmed by this?

[lauraciello]

𝐎𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 - 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐚  ; ♡

✎ ....

General Overview:

( 🌿 ) ; Name — Relva

( 🌿 ) ; Species — Leafcutter Ant

( 🌿 ) ; Binomen — Acromyrmex subterraneus

( 🌿 ) ; Gender — Female

( 🌿 ) ; Age — Young Adult

( 🌿 ) ; Affiliation — Queendom of Aurora

( 🌿 ) ; Position — Harvesters / Gardener Worker

Relationships:

( 🌿 ) ; Mom — Queen Aurora

( 🌿 ) ; Sisters — Queendom of Aurora Ants

( 🌿 ) ; Son — (no name)

( 🌿 ) ; Friends — Cisco, Silte and Zig

( 🌿 ) ; Enemies — Nasuti Empire Termites

✎ ....

Description:

Relva is the protagonist of the story and also one of the newest ants to emerge in the Queendom of Aurora. As a harvester, her job is to use her sharp jaws to cut leaves and carry the pieces back to the colony. However, her way of thinking and act often gets her into trouble with the veterans, which leads to her getting grounded inside the anthill.

Although she tries to follow the rules, this restless and very curious ant has the terrible habit of solving things her own way and is not easily satisfied with superficial answers. If there is a rule, she wants to know why it was created; and if a weird noise comes from the bushes, she wants to know what is making it.

✎ ﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Informações Básicas:

( 🌿 ) ; Nome — Relva

( 🌿 ) ; Espécie — Quenquém-caiapó

( 🌿 ) ; Binômio — Acromyrmex subterraneus

( 🌿 ) ; Gênero — Feminino

( 🌿 ) ; Idade — Jovem Adulta

( 🌿 ) ; Afiliação — Reino de Aurora

( 🌿 ) ; Cargo — Operária Coletora / Jardineira

Relacionamentos:

( 🌿 ) ; Mãe — Rainha Aurora

( 🌿 ) ; Irmãs — Formigas do Reino de Aurora

( 🌿 ) ; Filho — (sem nome)

( 🌿 ) ; Amigos — Cisco, Silte e Zig

( 🌿 ) ; Inimigos — Cupins do Império Nasuti

✎ ....

Descrição:

Relva é a protagonista da história e também uma das formigas mais novas a surgir no Reino de Aurora. Como coletora, sua função é utilizar suas mandíbulas afiadas para cortar folhas e levar os pedaços de volta para a colônia. No entanto, sua maneira de pensar e agir muitas vezes a coloca em apuros com as formigas mais velhas, o que faz com que ela acabe ficando de castigo dentro do formigueiro.

Embora tente seguir as regras, essa formiga inquieta e muito curiosa tem o péssimo hábito de resolver as coisas à sua maneira e não se satisfaz facilmente com respostas superficiais. Se existe uma regra, ela quer saber por que foi criada; e se um barulho estranho vem dos arbustos, ela quer saber o que o está causando.

✎ ....

[cpericardium]

Let's all look at this please

Source

[blackheadedsugarant]

Ive been doing some research on leafcutter ants and they are definitely some of my favourite types of ants!! (ive got a whole book about them!!!!) heres a photo of Daceton armigerum, my personal favourite!

you can see that its jaws are elongated and have little spikes on the end to cut leaves!! they are so cute, I hope to get a macro lens for my camera so i can take ant photos to post :)

[theluvcatss]

a dump of (very) random stamps i’ve made in the past few like months idk enjoy i guess i just wanted to share <3 f2u ofc