Latin Name: Atta sexdens. Trivialname: Leafcutterant. Taxonomy: Subfamily: Myrmicinae Tribe: Attini. Keeping Level: (3) through their large Space- and. Atta sexdens, along with A. cephalotes, is the most widespread member of its genus. Its northern most range is Mexico, and extends through Central America. Atta sexdens: leafcutter ant: cubic feet), a colony of A. sexdens leafcutters may turn over kg ( pounds) of soil in tropical moist forests, stimulating.

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Behavioral Ecology and SociobiologyVol 7, Issue 2: The most important factor is the quantity of food.

Communication between members of Atta sexdens involves a combination of chemicals called pheremones secreted from various glands, and touch. More specifically refers to a group of organisms in which members act as specialized subunits a continuous, modular society – as in clonal organisms.

The soil becomes aerated with the excavation of tunnels and chambers, and enriched with nutrients as the ants bury their waste products. Once the leaf fragments are inside the nest each is prepared with a drop of anal liquid which acts as a fertilizer. Proliferation zone vary the workers in paint, sculpture, gloss and hair, with some soldiers, the head is rubbed as in others he is furnished with hair, never the hair missing shots; in specimens from the south of Brazil the gaster on the sides is Zllweilen shiny the smallest workers may be the whole gaster shinyand sometimes the show occipital lobes front teeth on each side; the Epinotaldornen Zllweilen are strongly directed upwards; specimens from S.

The queen also lays a few eggs. Collected most commonly using these methods: The queen herself eats nothing during this period, sustaining herself on fat deposits and her shrinking flight muscles.


The eggs, larvae, and pupae of Atta sexdens are generally cared for by gardener-nurse caste workers, with some help from the within-nest specialists if the larvae or pupae are extremely large.

Members of different colonies are not spared if they happen to wander into a colony that isn’t their own. Forager ants search for adequate food sources in nature and, after their discovery, they decide whether the source is suitable or not for the colony.

ADW: Atta sexdens: INFORMATION

In addition to the fungus, the A. The one exception to this rule is the first few clutches of eggs laid by a founding queen, as she has no workers to take care of the larvae and must take attaa of them herself. They are used atts dispose used fungal culture and dead ants. If spared from floods and human activity, the colony is usually destroyed only when the queen dies of old age, giving a successful colony a lifespan of 10—20 years.

The four castes of A.

ANTSTORE – Ameisenshop – Ameisen kaufen – Atta sexdens

Ants in general progress through four stages of development: Gaster width of 5, 4 mm. As the ant activity and fungal metabolism heat up the colony, hot air rises through the central passageways.

The first eggs to hatch are gardener-nurses, who take care of the fungus gardens. The farms contain agta fungal culture which sustains the colony and hosts larvae and pupae.

Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons or periodic condition changes. Protruding hair quite short, in the middle of the ayta, occiput and sides of the head scattered, abundant on the thorax, and gaster Sielchen. Usually, the garden is fertilized only with feces, but sometimes it is necessary for the queen to forage wtta small quantity of plant material.

It can be concluded that workers travel large distances in a random manner until finding their substrate, but the return to the nest is efficient considering the shorter distance traveled.

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Among other attines, A. Rusty brown color, blacked Gaster.

Atta sexdens

Before the nuptial flightyoung queens visit the colony’s fungal gardens and place a small piece of fungal mycelium in their infrabuccal cavities. Other workers follow this trail to the leaves. This represents a major way in which nutrients are recycled in their environment. Atta ants also redistribute vital elements into the soil through processing and removal of waste products from the colony. Scutellum without a furrow. All waste in the nest, including infrabuccal pellets, spent substrate from the gardens, and dead ants are carried in the waste chambers to avoid contamination.

In addition, tasks may be delegated depending on the individual’s age within its caste, resulting in multiple sub-castes. Journey to the Ants. The queen then tends to the fungal garden and the developing larvae, feeding them fungus and trophic eggs.

A fully formed colony can contain anywhere from 5 to 8 million individual ants. Referring to a mating system in which a female mates with several males during one breeding season compare polygynous. The Animal Diversity Web is an educational resource sexdns largely by and for college students. The gardener-nurse caste takes care of the cultivation, transplanting fungus onto fresh substrate and weeding out wrong species of fungus, such as a parasitic Escovopsiswhich sometimes can contaminate nests.

Gaster width 3 mm, 5 mm hind tibiae.

Change View Bolton World Catalog. Polymorphism in a local population can be an adaptation to prevent density-dependent predation, where predators preferentially prey on the most common morph.