Alex WildAn Acromyrmex niger leafcutter ant worker makes a characteristically circular cut in a citrus leaf. Monte Verde, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
When people think about leafcutter ants, they usually picture Atta, the familiar giant leafcutters. But their sister genus Acromyrmex has twice as many species. Here's a gallery:
#Ants #Acromyrmex #Photography
https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Acromyrmex
Acromyrmex - Alex Wild
is the more diverse of the two leafcutting ant genera (the other is Atta). These distinctive spiny insects cut fresh vegetation to feed to a specialized fungus that grows only in ant nests. The fungus serves as the ants' food source and in return is cultivated and dispersed by the ants. Like all fungus-growing ants, Acromyrmex is found only in the new world tropics and subtropics.
In a remnant of Brazil's once-great Atlantic coastal rainforest, an Acromyrmex disciger leafcutter ant carries a leaf back to her nest. The forest where these ants live has been 95% destroyed by human activities. Morretes, Paraná, Brazil.
An Acromyrmex octospinosus leafcutter ant, photographed at the famous La Selva biological station in the lowland rainforests of Costa Rica.
An Acromyrmex lundii leafcutter ant finishes a cut. Santa Fe, Argentina.
The key to this photo was placing the flash above and behind the leaf, facing the lens.
Acromyrmex coronatus leafcutter ant, lab colony at UTAustin.
