Leaf Cutter Ants Current Events | Leaf Cutter Ants News
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Food security for leaf-cutting ants: Workers and their fungus garden reject endophyte invaders
New diseases directly affect human survival and food security, especially as population density climbs. Leaf-cutting ants, one of a few groups of social insects to cultivate crops, have harvested plant material to fertilize their underground fungal gardens for ~50 million years. view more (2009-04-03)
Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History reveals ants as fungus farmers
It turns out ants, like humans, are true farmers. The difference is that ants are farming fungus. view more (2008-03-25)
Symbiotic fungus does not depend on fungus-farming ants for reproduction, researchers say
Fungus-farming ants around the world cultivate essentially the same fungus and are not as critical to the reproduction of the fungi as previously believed, biologists at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered. view more (2006-06-28)
The Bees' Kamasutra
Female leaf-cutter bees are choosy about their sexual partners: they only fall for males who give off the appropriate smell. Zoologists at the University of Bonn have discovered that the male bees actually have to rub their scent under their partners' noses. Glands in their front legs serve as "scent sprays". There is not much room for... view more... (2002-03-12)
Flexible genes allow ants to change destiny
The discovery of a flexible genetic coding in leaf-cutting ants sheds new light on how one of nature's ultimate self-organising species breeds optimum numbers of each worker type to ensure the smooth running of the colony. view more (2007-05-25)
'Hansel and Gretel' ants use geometry to find their way home
Scientists at the University of Sheffield have discovered that Pharaoh ants use angles to determine the direction of a trail, informing them whether they're travelling to or from the nest. The study, published in Nature on 16 December, explains how ants know which direction they are travelling in when following pheromone trails. view more (2004-12-15)
Chimpanzees develop specialized tool kits to catch army ants
Chimpanzees in the Congo have developed specialized "tool kits" to forage for army ants, reveals new research published Sept. 3 in the American Journal of Primatology. view more (2009-09-08)
Ants hold the key to traffic chaos
Drivers wishing to avoid traffic jams could learn from the behaviour of army ants, according to new research by biologists at the University of Bristol. view more (2003-01-29)
Ants are surprisingly ancient, arising 140-168 million years ago
Ants are considerably older than previously believed, having originated 140 to 168 million years ago, according to new Harvard University research published in the journal Science. view more (2006-04-12)
Parasite causes zombie ants to die in an ideal spot
A study in the September issue of The American Naturalist describes new details about a fungal parasite that coerces ants into dying in just the right spot-one that is ideal for the fungus to grow and reproduce. view more (2009-08-12)
Royal corruption is rife in the ant world
Far from being a model of social co-operation, the ant world is riddled with cheating and corruption - and it goes all the way to the top, according to scientists from the Universities of Leeds and Copenhagen. view more (2008-03-12)
Ability to capture large prey may be origin of army ants' cooperative behavior
Animal behaviorist Sean O'Donnell was having an afternoon cup of coffee when a giant earthworm exploded out of the leaf litter covering the jungle floor in an Ecuadorean nature preserve. The worm, later measured at nearly 16 inches long, was pursued by a column of hundreds of raiding army ants that quickly paralyzed or killed it. view more (2005-12-15)
'Godmother' ant uses Mob tactics to rub out rivals
Researchers at the University of Sheffield and the University of Keele have discovered that Dinoponera quadriceps ants, known as Dinosaur ants, and the Mafia have something in common. Both have dominant leaders who give rivals a "kiss of death", as a signal for their 'mob' to punish the offender. The alpha female in a colony of Dinosaur... view more... (2002-09-02)
Ants are friendly to some trees, but not others
Tree-dwelling ants generally live in harmony with their arboreal hosts. But new research suggests that when they run out of space in their trees of choice, the ants can get destructive to neighboring trees. view more (2009-11-09)
Attack of the invasive garden ants
An ant that is native to Eurasia is threatening to become the latest in a procession of species to invade Europe, as a result of inadvertent human introduction. Research published in the online open access journal BMC Biology demonstrates that the invasive garden ant, Lasius neglectus, which is a threat to native species, may already be more... view more... (2008-02-26)
Invasive Ants Territorial When Neighbors Are Not Kin
A study led by UC San Diego biologists shows that invasive Argentine ants appear to use genetic differences to distinguish friend from foe, a finding that helps to explain why these ants form enormous colonies in California. view more (2006-12-04)
Digital Ant Colony System
Whoever thinks that ants are only erratic little beings, whose incessant wanderings are pointless or obey no kind of universal order, is very much mistaken. Their society is so organized and complex that it is already being used as a model for the creation of algorithms, adaptable to a variety of scientific areas. Inspired by the work of Chialvo... view more... (2002-09-30)
How ants find their way
Ever wondered how ants find their way straight to the uncovered food in your kitchen? Now scientists have discovered how the humble wood ant navigates over proportionally huge distances, using just very poor eyesight and confusing and changing natural landmarks. view more (2006-10-18)
Good housekeeping: why do shelter-dwelling caterpillars fling their frass?
Caterpillars of the silver-spotted skipper butterfly ballistically eject their individual fecal pellets (frass) as far as 40 body lengths away from their resting places in leaf shelters. Why do these and many other shelter-dwelling caterpillars go to such great lengths to distance themselves from their waste? In a paper to appear in the April... view more... (2003-04-08)
How social insects recognize dead nestmates
When an ant dies in an ant nest or near one, its body is quickly picked up by living ants and removed from the colony, thus limiting the risk of colony infection by pathogens from the corpse. view more (2009-05-06)
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