![]() ![]() There is a high degree of task specialization among the workers. The queen is huge, more than 1 inch long and can produce enormous egg masses that give rise to several million individuals. Colonies typically have a single queen and a worker caste (sterile females) of many thousands of individuals, highly polymorphic, varying in size from 1/ 6 to 1/ 2 inches in length. The Texas leaf-cutter colonies have a very complex social organization. It is estimated that this ant causes “agricultural” losses of $5 million annually in the United States. It is not a persistent invader of structures. Primarily considered an agricultural pest, it has also been found in homes on occasions foraging on cereals. It also occurs in scattered locations in northwestern Louisiana. DistributionĪtta texana (Buckley) is a fungus ant commonly called the Texas leaf-cutter ant because it is found mainly in south central and eastern regions of the state. As the larvae emerge they feed on special structures called gongylidia and are cared for by special nurse ants. Worker specialists maintain these growing, expanding gardens and care for the queen and her brood that are kept here in fungal chambers. Tiny worker specialists introduce and cultivate a special fungus on this substrate that becomes the only food source for the entire colony. At the nest, smaller workers receive the leaf fragments and cut them into smaller pieces and pass them on to even smaller specialist ants that chew and macerate these leaf bits into a pulpy substrate. Foraging workers carry their loads above their heads, at times resembling “parasols” and they are sometimes referred to as “parasol ants”. The largest workers (soldiers) guard against intruders at nest entrances and patrol along the busy foraging trails protecting the medium-sized workers as they carry pieces of leaves they have cut and are in the process of transporting them back to the nest. The ants are very selective in their choice of plants to forage on and may travel great distances to collect specific plant materials. They select new leaves, flowers, and plant stems over mature ones, and prefer plant material with a high water content. They prefer introduced cultivars to native plants. The newly mated queen will excavate a shallow cavity in the soil, start a fungal garden and rear her first brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae) alone.Įmerging workers soon begin to forage for plant material that will provide a substrate on which to grow fungus for food. This small amount of fungus will be used to start a new fungus garden after mating has occurred and a nesting site selected. Virgin queens leave the parental nest with some of the colony fungus stored in the cavity in their mouthparts. Winged females over an inch long, and winged males that are much smaller make massive mating flights on moonless nights in April and May, generally following rain. One pair of spines on the back of the headĬolony reproduction takes place annually in mature colonies containing male and female reproductive forms.Three pairs of prominent spines on the thorax. ![]() Workers are 1/ 6 to 1/ 2 inches long (polymorphic).Antennae have 11 segments but no easily defined club.Coloration: rust brown to dull dark brown. ![]()
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