We observed leaf-cutter ants taking the easy route when possible since they crawled ... This arrangement evolved as a defense against the phorid fly (wasp) which tries to deposit its egg on the neck ...

So then we went looking for leaf cutter ants ... a fungus grows which is the only food of the ants, including the young. When a queen ant flies, she takes a "starter" from this fungus, establishes ...

About three years ago, a young, impregnated queen started a solitary journey from a tropical forest on the Caribbean island of Trinidad that has now brought her to Chicago with a female entourage ...

“In Costa Rica, we’ve found leaf-cutter ants wandering along trails beside their nest mates even though there’s nothing inside their heads but a mature, fat phorid fly maggot,” Brown said ...

The rich chemical communication of ants has claimed more attention ... Somehow, they discourage attacks from phorid flies. These parasites swoop onto leaf-cutters and inject an egg, which hatches ...

Living in massive colonies of up to 5 million members, leaf-cutter ants (Atta cephalotes ... Queens, the colonies’ founders, have wings to fly off to start another colony, and are the only fertile ...

Phorid Flies as Biological Control Agents of Ants Publication Trend The graph below shows the total number of publications each year in Phorid Flies as Biological Control Agents of Ants.

Ramirez and some of her neighbors have been invaded by leaf-cutter ants. "In the spring, they cut down two lilies," said Ramirez, who lives near the sandy soil of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks ...

By Emily Anthes It was a cold, gray afternoon in December, and at the American Museum of Natural History, a half million leaf-cutter ants were hunkered down in their homes. The ants typically ...

Living in massive colonies of up to 5 million members, leaf-cutter ants (Atta cephalotes ... Queens, the colonies’ founders, have wings to fly off to start another colony, and are the only fertile ...