LEAFCUTTER ANTS

CHARACTERISTICS: They are remarkable for establishing a symbiosis with a fungus which will serve as food source, and for their part the ants prepare the vegetable matter, using digestive enzymes and faecal secretions in which the fungus may develop. The caste distribution consists of the Queen and the sterile workers (gardeners, cutters, foragers, escorts and soldiers) which are the permanent ants in the nest.
DIET: Principally leaves.
REPRODUCTION: Once a year winged females (future queens) and males are produced, who will in turn begin new anthills. The function of the queen is to create the anthill and multiply the colony, she can live up to 15 years but when she dies the colony will disappear.
CURIOSITIES: The mortality rate through depredation of queens in the nuptial flight period is very high. They fall easy prey to lizards, frogs, snakes, spiders, flies, some birds and others. Only 0.5% of the winged females survive in the formation of a new nest.