''Atta cephalotes'', commonly known as the hairy-headed leafcutter ant, is a species of

leafcutter ant Leafcutter ants are fungus-growing ants that share the behaviour of cutting leaves which they carry back to their nests to farm fungus. Next to humans, leafcutter ants form some of the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth. In a few ...

in the tribe Attini (the fungus-growing ants). A single colony of ants can contain up to 5 million members, and each colony has one queen that can live more than 20 years. The colony comprises different castes, known as "task partitioning", and each caste has a different job to do. This caste includes: Minims, Medias and Majors

Taxonomy

The species is one of the earliest formally classified ants, first described by Swedish zoologist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in 1758 as ''Formica cephalotes'' in the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' together with 16 other ant species, all of which he placed in the genus ''

Formica ''Formica'' is a genus of ants of the subfamily Formicinae, including species commonly known as wood ants, mound ants, thatching ants, and field ants. ''Formica'' is the type genus of the Formicidae, and of the subfamily Formicinae. The type ...

''. It was later transferred to a new genus, '' Atta'', along with five other species by Danish zoologist

Johan Christian Fabricius Johann Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is co ...

in 1804. In 1911, American entomologist

William Morton Wheeler William Morton Wheeler (March 19, 1865 – April 19, 1937) was an American entomologist, myrmecologist and professor at Harvard University. Biography Early life and education William Morton Wheeler was born on March 19, 1865, to parents Juliu ...

designated ''A. cephalotes'' as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of ''Atta''. It was also designated as the type species of ''Oecodoma'', but the genus is now a synonym of ''Atta''.

Biology and behaviour

The elder workers manages the colony's rubbish dump. These ants are excluded from the rest of the colony. If any wander outside the dump, the other ants will kill them or force them back. Rubbish workers are often contaminated with disease and toxins, and live only half as long as their peers. Ants lay pheromone trails as a method of communication to guide other ants to a discovered food source when returning to the nest. Minims work in the nest, digging, tending fungi and taking care of brood. Additionally they can ride the backs of the larger caste members for transport or, more importantly, defending ants encumbered by leaves from parasitic insects such as phorid flies which will lay eggs in the heads of leafcutter ants. The media act as harvesters. They bring leaves back to the nest for fungus cultivation. Lastly the majors almost exclusively perform defensive tasks guarding harvesting trails from other insects.

Distribution and habitat

The species is widely distributed in the

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

region, from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, with disjunct populations in Amazonas and north-eastern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Across the rainforest floor they typically occupy an area of approximately 200 square meters. They live in nests that can be as deep as 7 metres that they have carefully positioned so that a breeze can rid the nest of the dangerous levels of given off by the fungus they farm and eat.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1945635 C Hymenoptera of North America Hymenoptera of South America Insects of Central America Hymenoptera of Brazil Insects of Mexico Fauna of the Neotropical realm Insects described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus