Facts about Ant Fungal Farming
- 06
Bacteria of the genus Pseudonocardia live on the bodies of fungus-farming ants and produce antibiotics that help suppress parasitic molds in their gardens.
- 05
Fungal gardens maintained by ant colonies can reach the size of a football in mature nests, housing billions of fungal threads that digest plant material the ants cannot directly consume.
- 04
Queen ants carry a small pellet of fungus from their natal colony when founding a new nest, ensuring the cultivated strain is passed to the next generation.
- 03
Attine ants use chemical signals and physical weeding to protect their fungal gardens from parasitic Escovopsis molds that specifically target their cultivated crop.
- 02
The fungus cultivated by ant fungal farming species belongs to the tribe Leucoagariceae, and ants actively weed out competing molds to keep their gardens pure.
- 01
Leafcutter ants practice ant fungal farming by cultivating a specific fungus as their primary food source, a mutualistic relationship that evolved roughly 50 million years ago.