Leaf-cutter ants tend gardens of fungi that efficiently deconstruct plant biomass. This process converts lipids in the leaves into lipids the ants can use. Lipids in these gardens are an energy source ...

(CNN) — You have probably seen leaf-cutter ants carrying bits of plants, maybe in a nature documentary, at a science museum or in the “Circle of Life” song at the beginning of the 1994 Disney animated ...

K. K. A. Sousa, G. C. Catalani, T. M. R. Gianeti, R. S. Camargo, N. Caldato, V. M. Ramos, L. C. Forti The Florida Entomologist, Vol. 103, No. 1 (March 2020), pp. 1-8 ...

Milestones are often daunting and deserve recognition. But, at the same time, they are also just days in the year, and life keeps on going. I celebrated my 50th birthday over the holidays, and leading ...

Scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama discovered that carrying oversized loads limits the ability to perceive the trail in leafcutter ants, akin to blind spots whi ...

Species of ants that practice a complex form of fungi agriculture developed their knack for farming about 50 million years ago and have employed several different, successful strategies to culture ...

HOUSTON -- (Feb. 21, 2011) -- Texas winters may seem mild to those who move here from farther north, but they can be hard to adjust to for immigrants from warmer climates. This is true not only for ...

You have one of two relationships with leaf-cutter ants. First, you’re a nature-lover, visiting Costa Rica, as you always do, when it’s a little too cold at home. You’re enjoying the house you don’t ...

This image highlights the whitish cuticular coating present on the ant Ac. echinatior. (Credit: T.R.S., in a study published by Nature Communications, via Courthouse News) PARIS (AFP) — A well-known ...

Fungi are a kingdom of life more closely related to animals than to plants, and many of them consume decaying plant matter. Some fungi make fruiting bodies that we know as mushrooms as part of their ...

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