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Leafcutter ants are conspicuous insects in warmer regions of the Americas. These spiny, charismatic ants are expert farmers, cultivating their food- a specialized fungus- in extensive underground galleries. The cut leaves are not consumed directly by the ants but are used to grow the fungus.

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alexwild > The most northerly Acromyrmex species is the desert leafcutter A. versicolor. Here workers guard their nest entrance. California, USA.

alexwild > A mating swarm of the desert leafcutter Acromyrmex versicolor. Tucson, Arizona, USA.

alexwild > A mating swarm of the desert leafcutter Acromyrmex versicolor. Tucson, Arizona, USA.

alexwild > A mating swarm of the desert leafcutter Acromyrmex versicolor. The swarm is composed largely of males, as the arriving females are set upon almost immediately and fall to the ground in a ball of ants. Tucson, Arizona, USA.

alexwild > A single young queen leafcutter- hidden under piles of males- attracts dozens of hopeful mates in a frenzied ball of copulating ants.

Acromyrmex versicolor. Tucson, Arizona, USA.

alexwild > A mating ball of desert leafcutters, Acromyrmex versicolor. The larger, red ant at the center is a young queen, the rest are males. Queens of this species mate with multiple males in one morning and store the sperm for use later.

alexwild > Mating flights are a perilous time for ants. Here a newly-mated Acromyrmex queen falls prey to a pair of hungry harvester ants.

Acromyrmex versicolor and Aphaenogaster cockerelli. Tucson, Arizona.

alexwild > A newly-mated desert leafcutter queen, Acromyrmex versicolor, sheds her wings. Tucson, Arizona, USA.

alexwild > The cycle continues: an incipient fungus garden sprouts fuzzy white hyphae from the small piece of innoculum that a leafcutter queen carried from her parental nest. The queen has also laid a few pearly white eggs.

Acromyrmex versicolor, the desert leafcutter. Tucson, Arizona, USA.

A mating ball of desert leafcutters, Acromyrmex versicolor. The larger, red ant at the center is a young queen, the rest are males. Queens of this species mate with multiple males in one morning and store the sperm for use later.

> A mating ball of desert leafcutters, Acromyrmex versicolor. The larger, red ant at the center is a young queen, the rest are males. Queens of this species mate with multiple males in one morning and store the sperm for use later.

A mating ball of desert leafcutters, Acromyrmex versicolor. The larger, red ant at the center is a young queen, the rest are males. Queens of this species mate with multiple males in one morning and store the sperm for use later.

Camera: Canon (Canon Eos 20d) |

More details: exif |

Original size: 3024px x 2204px |

Current: 400px x 292px |

Other sizes: Small • M |

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Keywords: bug swarm desert bugs mating ants nature insect insects reproduction lek biology versicolor entomology formicidae myrmicinae attini acromyrmex

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all images and text © Alex Wild 2008

insect pictures, insect images, insect photos, insect photography, ant images, bug pictures, bug photographs, insect identification, ant pictures

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