Leaf-cutting Ants Essay examples -- essays research papers fc

One of the most teeny-weeny known species of emmets in due north America is the leaf-cutter ant. This is mainly because it lives in tropic environments and it is not self-asserting to animals or homos if not disturbed. The leaf cutting ant is a social insect. Al cardinal the ant is virtu eachy helpless but with the habituation it put forward be a thing fe bed by animal and human alike. The leaf-cutting ants have a very important role in the tropical forest. They create and manipulate the environment around them. They also can do major damage. The leaf-cutting or fungus-growing ants are distributed from northern Texas to central Argentina. These ants are harmful since they cut the green vegetation from maneuvers, shrubs and crops, and carry it into the nest, where they cultivate fungi on it. They have been known to denude a tree or ornamental plants in one night. It has been estimated they do $1 billion damage per yr in North and South America today, these ants still ca use millions of dollars in crop losses in many South American countries. Although mainly an agricultural pest, this insect on occasion may invade the al-Qaida for cereals. In the United States, the Texas leaf-cutting ant, Atta texana , occurs in Texas and Louisiana. This ant is believed to cause a original y ahead of time loss of $5 million in the United States (unison services. 1998).There are about 9,500 named species of ants. These ants are divided into 16 sub families and 300 genera, all which belong to the family called Formicidae, the family of ants (Hoyt. 1996). The leaf cutting ant belongs to the genus called Atta. There are cardinal different species of Atta and all are limited to the new world (Holldobler & axerophthol Wilson, 1994). The leaf-cutter ant looks pretty much like a systematic ant in North America except that it is a little bigger than most ants. Looking at the ant in the ferocious eye a person usually perceives that it is a primitive organism. Looks can be deceiving. The leaf-cutter ant is a complex superorganism unique social, environmental, and aliment gathering behavior.The anatomy of the leaf-cutter ant is pretty simple. It has a one segment " waist" (pedicel) between thorax and abdomen. Sharp spines on waist and backward from head. antennae 11-segmented very long and elbowed without distinct club. The legs are very long. This ant can be light to dark reddish brown (Smith. 1997).The leaf-cutter at is just li... ...vailable <a href="http//entowww.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/uc/uc-033.html">http//entowww.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/uc/uc-033.htmlUnison Services. "The Leaf eluding Ant or Fungus-Growing Ants." 4 Jan. 1998. Available <a href="http//www.unisonservices.com/leafcuttingant.html">http//www.unisonservices.com/leafcuttingant.html.Vasconcelos, H.L. 1997. Foraging practise of an Amazonian leaf-cutting ant responses to changes in the availability of woody plants and to previous plant damage. Oecologia 112 370-378Vasconcelos, H., and Cherrett J. 1997. Leaf-cutting ants and early forest regeneration in central Amazonia effects of herbivory on tree seedling establishment, Journal of Tropical ecology 13 357-370Weber, V.A. (1972) Gardening Ants, the Attines. American Philosphical Society. Philadelphia.Whitehouse, M., and Jaffe, K. 1996. Ant wars combat strategies, territory and nest defense in the leaf- cutting ant Atta Laevigata. Animal Behavior 51 1207-1217Wirth, R., Beyschlag, W., and Ryel, J. 1997. Annual foraging of the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica in a semideciduous rain forest in Panama. Journal of Tropical Ecology 13 741-757