Results 51 to 60 of about 786 (175)
How Do Leaf-Cutting Ants Recognize Antagonistic Microbes in Their Fungal Crops?
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2020 Leaf-cutting ants employ diverse behavioral strategies for promoting the growth of fungal cultivars in a structure known as fungus garden. As a nutritionally rich resource for the ants, the fungal crop is threatened by microbial antagonists and pathogens.
Aryel C. Goes +5 more
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Escovopsioides as a fungal antagonist of the fungus cultivated by leafcutter ants
BMC Microbiology, 2018 Background Fungus gardens of fungus-growing (attine) ants harbor complex microbiomes in addition to the mutualistic fungus they cultivate for food. Fungi in the genus Escovopsioides were recently described as members of this microbiome but their role in ...
Julio Flavio Osti, Andre Rodrigues
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IMA Fungus, 2021 Escovopsis is a diverse group of fungi, which are considered specialized parasites of the fungal cultivars of fungus-growing ants. The lack of a suitable taxonomic framework and phylogenetic inconsistencies have long hampered Escovopsis research. The aim
Quimi Vidaurre Montoya +4 more
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Understanding the Hygienic Behavioral Dynamics of Ants Using Multi‐State Models
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, Volume 174, Issue 4, Page 361-370, April 2026.Leaf‐cutting ants adjust grooming to pathogen risk and vulnerable nestmates. Multi‐state Markov models reveal shorter, frequent self‐grooming bouts and reduced allogrooming persistence under stress, optimizing social immunity via stigmergic decision‐making.
Isabella Bueno +5 more
wiley +1 more source
Laterality of leaf cutting in the attine ant Acromyrmex echinatior
Insectes Sociaux, 2014 We tested the idea that leaf-cutting ants preferentially use one of their mandibles in the leading position when cutting leaves. We recorded the mandible position of both paint-marked and unmarked foragers from a laboratory colony of Acromyrmex echinatior during foraging bouts in two experiments 1 year apart (2012 and 2013).
Jasmin, Jean-Nicolas, Devaux, Céline
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The Evolutionary Innovation of Nutritional Symbioses in Leaf-Cutter Ants
Insects, 2012 Fungus-growing ants gain access to nutrients stored in plant biomass through their association with a mutualistic fungus they grow for food. This 50 million-year-old obligate mutualism likely facilitated some of these species becoming dominant ...
Frank O. Aylward +2 more
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Systematic Entomology, Volume 50, Issue 3, Page 469-494, July 2025.A comprehensive, integrative study approach combining morphology, population genetics, phylogenetics and biogeography revealed that the Acromyrmex octospinosus species complex consists of two species: A. octospinosus and its social parasite A. insinuator.
Daniela Mera‐Rodríguez +2 more
wiley +1 more source
Foraging activity by an ecosystem engineer, the superb lyrebird, ‘farms’ its invertebrate prey
Journal of Animal Ecology, Volume 94, Issue 5, Page 848-862, May 2025.We show that the superb lyrebird, an ecosystem engineer, undertakes a unique form of resource farming through its foraging activity. By modulating litter and soil habitats on the forest floor, lyrebirds create conditions conducive to their invertebrate prey, increasing richness and biomass and resulting in a remarkable farming feedback loop.
Alex C. Maisey +2 more
wiley +1 more source
Isolation, Growth Characteristics, and Long-Term Storage of Fungi Cultivated by Attine Ants [PDF]
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 1989 Seven pure-culture strains of fungi cultivated by attine ants (ant-garden fungi) were isolated from locally maintained leaf-cutting ant colonies. An ant-garden fungus strain obtained from an Atta cephalotes colony, when offered to ants of the colony from which the fungus was isolated, was accepted as their own ...
J, Cazin, D F, Wiemer, J J, Howard
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Fungal enzymes in the attine ant symbiosis [PDF]
, 2007 All farmers actively or inadvertently optimize their crops and farming practices to achieve the best possible harvest, or at least has a strong incentive to do so.
Schiøtt, Morten +2 more
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