Waste disposal by leaf-cutting ants.

(5.1MB, 00:02:27)
Shot Date: 1996/03/20
Shot Location: Barro Colorado Island, Panama

species
Atta colombica

Key Words
waste disposal
social insect

Chiharu Koshio, Takahiro Murakami
2006/12/13 submitted

Animalia >Arthropoda >Insecta >Hymenoptera >Forimicidae >Atta >

Leaf-cutting ants live in large colonies (1000-1000000 workers) and use collected vegetable matter to grow fungus for food. The combination of large colony size and fungus cultivation results in formidable quantities of waste, including old fungus garden, fungal substrate, and dead workers. Some species of leaf-cutting ants dump waste in a heap outside the nest, while most leaf-cutting ants have waste dump chambers in their nest.

(Data No.momo061130ac03b)

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