LEAF-CUTTER ANT
Scientific Name: Atta cephalotes
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Physical Adaptations:
Leaf-cutter ants can be from .10 to .65 inches
long
They are capable of carrying over 20 times their
own body weight
They have a narrow “waist” between the abdomen and thorax plus large heads, elbowed antennae, and powerful jaws
Behavioral Adaptations:
Each queen leaf-cutter ant can lay up to 30,000
eggs each day
Male ants often have only one role—mating
with the queen. After they have performed this
function, they may die
Ants communicate and cooperate by using
chemicals that can alert others to danger or
lead them to a promising food source
If a queen dies, all the other ants die too
Habitat/Biome:
tropical and deciduous forests, scrublands
Distribution:
Southwestern United States, Central and South
America
Status: IUCN pop. trend: not listed
Special Notes:
IUCN Category: Not Listed
CITES Listing: Not Listed
Threats Include:
The main natural predator of the leaf-cutter ants is
the armadillo
Primary Diet:
Wild: fungus spores endemic only to leaf-cutter
ants’ nests
FOLIVORE
INSECTIVORE
Fun Facts:
A nest of leaf-cutter ants can contain over 5 million ants
Ants collect leaves from all layers of the forest,
from the floor to the canopy
Leaf-cutter ants secrete a chemical trail so they
can always return to the nest
Only animals known to grow their own food from
other living matter
Additional Notes:
Incubation:
Clutch:
Life Span:
Information Sources: (2011)
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Animal Facts
www.stlzoo.org
www.rainforest-alliance.org
www.nhm.ac.uk