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.
Atta cephalotes - Panama. A small leafcutter worker atop a leaf guards her sister against attacks by parasitic flies. Ants carrying leaves cannot use their mandibles for defense, so they carry hitchhikers to ward off the parasites.
filename: cephalotes16
filename: cephalotes16
Atta cephalotes - Panama. A small leafcutter worker atop a leaf guards her sister against attacks by parasitic flies. Ants carrying leaves cannot use their mandibles for defense, so they carry hitchhikers to ward off the parasites.
filename: cephalotes16
filename: cephalotes16
Camera: Canon (Canon Eos 20d) |
More details: exif |
Original size: 3165px x 2250px |
Current: 400px x 284px |
in this box: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
