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21 results for “leafcutter ants”
Behavioral performance and division of labor influence brain mosaicism in the leafcutter ant Atta cephalotes
<p>Brain evolution is hypothesized to be driven by behavioral selection on neuroarchitecture. We developed a novel metric of relative neuroanatomical investments involved in performing tasks varying in sensorimotor and processing demands across polymorphic task-specialized workers of the leafcutter ant <i>Atta cephalotes</i> and quantified brain size and structure to examine their correlation with our computational approximations. Investment in multi-sensory and motor integration for task performance was estimated to be greatest for media workers, whose highly diverse repertoire includes leaf-quality discrimination and leaf-harvesting tasks that likely involve demanding sensory and motor processes. Confocal imaging revealed that absolute brain volume increased with worker size and functionally specialized compartmental scaling differed among workers. The mushroom bodies, centers of sensory integration and learning and memory, and the antennal lobes, olfactory input sites, were larger in medias than in minims (gardeners) and significantly larger than in majors ("soldiers"), both of which had lower scores for involvement of olfactory processing in the performance of their characteristic tasks. Minims had a proportionally larger central complex compared to other workers. These results support the hypothesis that variation in task performance influences selection for mosaic brain structure, the independent evolution of proportions of the brain composed by different neuropils.</p>
Fig. 3 in Morphology of the ovary and spermatheca of the leafcutter ant Acromyrmex rugosus queens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Fig. 3. Light micrographs of an Acromyrmex rugosus spermatheca: (A) General appearance of the spermatheca with regions of columnar (Ce) and flat (Fe) epithelia in the reservoir and spermathecal gland (Gl) containing cells with a well-developed nucleus (black arrow). Scale bar: 30 μm. (B) The reservoir epithelium and transition between columnar (Ce) and flat epithelia (Fe). Scale bar: 10 μm. (C) The spermathecal gland (Gl) containing cells with a well-developed nucleus (black arrow) and cytoplasm with granules. Scale bar: 10 μm. (D) The spermathecal pump with muscles (Mu) associated with the spermathecal duct (D). Scale bar: 10 μm. Lu, lumen; Mu, muscles.
Fig. 2 in Morphology of the ovary and spermatheca of the leafcutter ant Acromyrmex rugosus queens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Fig. 2. Light micrographs of an Acromyrmex rugosus ovariole. (A) Terminal filament (Tf) and germarium (Ge). Scale bar: 30 μm. (B) The vitellarium region with the egg chamber (Oc) and nurse chamber (Nc) at various stages of development, covered by follicular cells (Fc). Scale bar: 30 μm. (C) A follicle at the early stage of development with a small egg chamber (Oc) enveloped by cuboidal follicular cells (Fc) and a well-developed nurse chamber (Nc). N, nurse cell nucleus. Scale bar: 20 μm. (D) Flat follicular cells (Fc) covering the nurse chamber (Nc). Scale bar: 20 μm. (E) A follicle with an oocyte (Oc) with multiple accessory nuclei (black arrowhead). A disruption in the follicular epithelium that allows communication between the egg and nurse chambers (black arrow). Scale bar: 20 μm. (F) Oocytes (Oc) in the late maturation stages with a large number of yolk granules in the cytoplasm (black arrow), enveloped by cuboidal follicular (Fc) cells. The nurse chamber (Nc) is smaller than the egg chamber (Oc). Scale bar: 30 μm. (G) Cuboidal follicular epithelium (Fc) covering the oocyte (Oc). Scale bar: 20 μm. (H) A follicle at the final stage of development with degenerating nurse cells (Nc). Yolk granules in the ooplasm (black arrow). Oc, oocyte; Fc, follicular cells. Scale bar: 10 µm.
Fig. 1 in Morphology of the ovary and spermatheca of the leafcutter ant Acromyrmex rugosus queens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Fig. 1. General appearance of the Acromyrmex rugosus reproductive system. Ovariole (Ov); lateral oviduct (Lo); spermatheca (Sp); trachea associated with the ovarioles (white arrow). Scale bar: 500 μm.
Reciprocal nutritional provisioning between leafcutter ants and their fungal cultivar mediates performance of symbiotic farming systems
<ol> <li>Optimized food acquisition is challenging because foraged diet items are chemically complex and often nutritionally imbalanced. These challenges are likely magnified when foraged foods are used to provision others (e.g., offspring, nestmates, symbionts) with different nutritional requirements.</li> <li>We used a theoretical framework of nutritional niches to study these provisioning challenges in leafcutter ants that cultivate a fungal symbiont with nutrients derived from freshly foraged plant fragments. While the leaf-cutting behaviours of free-ranging foragers are well studied, little is known about how colonies use these plant fragments to produce their fungal crop within underground nest chambers.</li> <li>For instance, gardener ants are known to convert vegetation into a nutritional mulch that they plant on the fungus garden. However, it remains poorly understood how the ants use this mulch to target the specific nutritional needs of their fungal crop, and whether the cultivar signals if provisioned mulch meets its nutritional needs. Towards answers, we performed three experiments to assess the precision and specificity of nutritional regulation in farming systems of the Panamanian leafcutter ant <em>Acromyrmex</em> <em>echinatior</em>.</li> <li>A laboratory feeding experiment with nutritionally defined diets showed that ant farmers collect a specific intake target for protein and carbohydrates and then linked strict protein regulation by foragers to the cultivar's fundamental niche for protein. </li> <li>An in vitro experiment with the fungal cultivar in isolation did not detect a signal of protein stress that could be used by the ants to regulate their provisioning behaviour, but it did identify an elevated fatty acid that may reinforce optimal nutritional provisioning if detected by gardening ants.</li> <li>A feeding experiment with isotopically labelled diets then revealed nutrient-specific and caste-specific allocation timelines, with nitrogen being assimilated into the cultivar's nutritional rewards before being exclusively consumed by developing brood. In turn, these combined results help resolve the integrated behaviours that give rise to resilient leafcutter farming productivity. </li> <li>These results show how nutritional niches can help disentangle reciprocal provisioning dynamics between symbionts while providing a framework to explore the nutritional transactions that mediate symbiotic stability (e.g., sanctioning, screening, policing).</li> </ol>
Reciprocal nutritional provisioning between leafcutter ants and their fungal cultivar mediates performance of symbiotic farming systems
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Behavioral performance and division of labor influence brain mosaicism in the leafcutter ant Atta cephalotes
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Data from: Nutritional challenges of feeding a mutualist: testing for a nutrient-toxin tradeoff in fungus-farming leafcutter ants
<p>The biochemical heterogeneity of food items often yields tradeoffs as each bite of food tends to contain some nutrients in surplus and others in deficit, as well as other less palatable or even toxic compounds. These multidimensional nutritional challenges are likely compounded when foraged foods are used to provision others (<i>e.g</i>. offspring or symbionts) with different physiological needs and tolerances. We explored these challenges in free-ranging colonies of leafcutter ants that navigate a diverse tropical forest to collect plant fragments they use to provision a co-evolved fungal cultivar. We tested the prediction that leafcutter farmers face provisioning tradeoffs between the nutritional quality and concentration of toxic tannins in foraged plant fragments. Chemical analyses of plant fragments sampled from the mandibles of Panamanian <i>Atta colombica </i>leafcutter ants provided little support for a nutrient-tannin foraging tradeoff. First, colonies foraged for plant fragments ranging widely in tannin concentration. Second, high tannin levels did not appear to restrict colonies from selecting plant fragments with blends of protein and carbohydrates that maximized cultivar performance when measured with <i>in vitro </i>experiments. We also tested whether tannins expand the realized nutritional niche selected by leafcutter ants into high-protein dimensions since: 1) tannins can bind proteins and reduce their accessibility during digestion, and 2) <i>in vitro</i> experiments have shown that excess protein provisioning reduces cultivar performance. Contrary to this hypothesis, the most protein-rich plant fragments did not have highest tannin levels. More generally, the approach developed here can be used to test how multidimensional interactions between nutrients and toxins shape the costs and benefits of providing care to offspring or symbionts.</p>
Fig. 4 in Chemical cuticular signature of leafcutter ant Atta sexdens (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) worker subcastes
Fig. 4. Distribution pattern of four cuticular hydrocarbons among Atta sexdens worker subcastes.
The multidimensional nutritional niche of fungus-cultivar provisioning in free-ranging colonies of a neotropical leafcutter ant
<p>Foraging trails of leafcutter colonies are iconic scenes in the Neotropics, with ants collecting freshly-cut plant fragments to provision a fungal food crop. We hypothesized that the fungus-cultivar's requirements for macronutrients and minerals govern the foraging niche breadth of <i>Atta colombica </i>leafcutter ants. Analyses of plant fragments carried by foragers showed how nutrients from fruits, flowers, and leaves combine to maximize cultivar performance. While the most commonly foraged leaves delivered excess protein relative to the cultivar's needs, <i>in vitro </i>experiments showed that the minerals P, Al, and Fe may expand the leafcutter foraging niche by enhancing the cultivar's tolerance to protein-biased substrates. A suite of other minerals reduces cultivar performance in ways that may render plant fragments with optimal macronutrient blends unsuitable for provisioning. Our approach highlights how the nutritional challenges of provisioning a mutualist can govern the multidimensional realized niche available to a generalist insect herbivore. </p>
The multidimensional nutritional niche of fungus-cultivar provisioning in free-ranging colonies of a neotropical leafcutter ant
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Data from: Nutritional challenges of feeding a mutualist: testing for a nutrient-toxin tradeoff in fungus-farming leafcutter ants
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Leaf processing behavior in Atta leafcutter ants: 90% of leaf cutting takes place inside the nest, and ants select pieces that require less cutting
<p>Leafcutter ants cut trimmings from plants, carry them to their underground nests, and cut them into smaller pieces before inoculating them with a fungus that serves as a primary food source for the colony. Cutting is energetically costly, so the amount of cutting is important in understanding foraging energetics. Estimates of the cutting density, meters of cutting per square meter of leaf, were made from samples of transported leaf cuttings and of fungal substrate from field colonies of <em>Atta cephalotes</em> and <em>Atta colombica</em>. To investigate cutting inside the nest, we made leaf-processing observations of our laboratory colony, <em>A. cephalotes</em>. We did not observe the commonly reported reduction of the leaf fragments into a pulp, which would greatly increase the energy cost of processing. Video clips of processing behaviors, including behaviors that have not previously been described, are linked. An estimated 2.9 (+0.3) kilometers of cutting with mandibles was required to reduce a square meter of leaf to fungal substrate. Only about 12% (+ 1%) of this cutting took place outside of the nest. The cutting density and energy cost is lower for leaf material with higher ratios of perimeter to area, so we tested for, and found that the laboratory ants had a preference for leaves that were pre-cut into smaller pieces. Estimates suggest that the energy required to transport and cut up the leaf material is comparable to the metabolic energy available from the fungus grown on the leaves, and so conservation of energy is likely a particularly strong selective pressure for leafcutter ants.</p>
Supplementary material 1 from: Pereira T, Reis A, Cardoso D, Cristiano M (2018) Molecular phylogenetic reconstruction and localization of the (TTAGG)n telomeric repeats in the chromosomes of Acromyrmex striatus (Roger, 1863) suggests a lower ancestral karyotype for leafcutter ants. Comparative Cytogenetics 12(1): 13-21. https://doi.org/10.3897/CompCytogen.v12i1.21799
Figure S1. Phylogenomic tree used to estimate the ancestral chromosome number. : Explanation note: Numbers at nodes represent the first and second most likely haploid chromosome number followed by posterior support values under Bayesian optimization and the ancestral haploid chromosome number with best likelihood under maximum likelihood optimization, as follows: [first haploid state (P.P.%)// second haploid state (P.P.%)// ML haploid state].
Leafcutter ants of the genus Atta in the Insects Collection at the Field Museum of Natural History. The field data on the attached tags are transcribed for entry into databases such as AntWeb and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Photograph: Matthew Nelsen. in The Evolution of Natural History Collections
Leafcutter ants of the genus Atta in the Insects Collection at the Field Museum of Natural History. The field data on the attached tags are transcribed for entry into databases such as AntWeb and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Photograph: Matthew Nelsen.
FIGURES 1–3. Female phorid fly oviscapes, lateral. 1 in Parasitoid phorid flies (Diptera: Phoridae) from the threatened leafcutter ant Atta robusta Borgmeier (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
FIGURES 1–3. Female phorid fly oviscapes, lateral. 1. Eibesfeldtphora breviloba; 2. Eibesfeldtphora digitalis; 3. Myrmosicarius exrobustus.
Mechanical properties and cuticle organisation in mandibles are related to the task specialisation in leafcutter ants (<em>Atta laevigata</em>, Attini, Formicidae)
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Data from: Functional role of phenylacetic acid from metapleural gland secretions in controlling fungal pathogens in evolutionarily derived leafcutter ants
Fungus-farming ant colonies vary four to five orders of magnitude in size. They employ compounds from actinomycete bacteria and exocrine glands as antimicrobial agents. Atta colonies have millions of ants and are particularly relevant for understanding hygienic strategies as they have abandoned their ancestors' prime dependence on antibiotic-based biological control in favour of using metapleural gland (MG) chemical secretions. Atta MGs are unique in synthesizing large quantities of phenylacetic acid (PAA), a known but little investigated antimicrobial agent. We show that particularly the smallest workers greatly reduce germination rates of Escovopsis and Metarhizium spores after actively applying PAA to experimental infection targets in garden fragments and transferring the spores to the ants' infrabuccal cavities. In vitro assays further indicated that Escovopsis strains isolated from evolutionarily derived leaf-cutting ants are less sensitive to PAA than strains from phylogenetically more basal fungus-farming ants, consistent with the dynamics of an evolutionary arms race between virulence and control for Escovopsis, but not Metarhizium. Atta ants form larger colonies with more extreme caste differentiation relative to other attines, in societies characterized by an almost complete absence of reproductive conflicts. We hypothesize that these changes are associated with unique evolutionary innovations in chemical pest management that appear robust against selection pressure for resistance by specialized mycopathogens.
Data from: Putting the waste out: a proposed mechanism for transmission of the mycoparasite Escovopsis between leafcutter ant colonies
The attine ant system is a remarkable example of symbiosis. An antagonistic partner within this system is the fungal parasite <i>Escovopsis, </i>a genus specific to the fungal gardens of the Attini. <i>Escovopsis </i>parasitizes the <i>Leucoagaricus </i>symbiont that leaf-cutting ants (<i>Acromyrmex</i>, <i>Atta</i>) have been farming over the past 8-12 million years. However, it has been a puzzle how <i>Escovopsis </i>reaches its host. During a seasonal survey of nests of <i>Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus </i>in Atlantic rainforest in Brazil, <i>Escovopsis </i>was detected in all the sampled fungal garden waste tips or middens (n = 111). Middens were built strategically; always below the nest entrances. Here, we report the first evidence of a putative mechanism for horizontal transmission of <i>Escovopsis </i>between attine colonies. It is posited that leaf-cutting ants pick up the spores from soil and litter during foraging and vector the mycoparasite between attine colonies. Field and laboratory experiments, using <i>Atta laevigata</i> and <i>Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus</i>, confirm that <i>Escovopsis </i>spores are phoretic, and have an in-built dormancy, broken by the presence of their <i>Leucoagaricus </i>host. However, in the coevolutionary arms race, <i>Atta </i>ants may lose out – despite most species in the genus investing in a more advanced waste disposal system – due to the insanitary habits of their <i>Acromyrmex</i> neighbours.
Data from: Putting the waste out: a proposed mechanism for transmission of the mycoparasite Escovopsis between leafcutter ant colonies
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