Atta ≈ Atta
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Small genome of the fungus <i>Escovopsis weberi</i> , a specialized disease agent of ant agriculture Open
Significance Many organisms are specialists living within a narrow range of conditions. Pathogens are often adapted to efficiently exploit only a few hosts species, or sometimes, only some genotypes within a species. The genomes of such pa…
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Welcome to the <i>Atta</i> world: A framework for understanding the effects of leaf‐cutter ants on ecosystem functions Open
Leaf‐cutter ants are a prominent feature in Neotropical ecosystems, but a comprehensive assessment of their effects on ecosystem functions is lacking. We reviewed the literature and used our own recent findings to identify knowledge gaps a…
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Diversity and Transmission of Gut Bacteria in Atta and Acromyrmex Leaf-Cutting Ants during Development Open
The social Hymenoptera have distinct larval and adult stages separated by metamorphosis, which implies striking remodeling of external and internal body structures during the pupal stage. This imposes challenges to gut symbionts as existin…
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Secondary Metabolites from <i>Escovopsis weberi</i> and Their Role in Attacking the Garden Fungus of Leaf‐Cutting Ants Open
The specialized, fungal pathogen Escovopsis weberi threatens the mutualistic symbiosis between leaf‐cutting ants and their garden fungus ( Leucoagaricus gongylophorus ). Because E. weberi can overwhelm L. gongylophorus without direct conta…
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Chemical warfare between fungus-growing ants and their pathogens Open
Fungus-growing attine ants are under constant threat from fungal pathogens such as the specialized mycoparasite Escovopsis, which uses combined physical and chemical attack strategies to prey on the fungal gardens of the ants. In defence, …
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2-D Van Atta Array of Wideband, Wideangle Slots for Radiative Wireless Power Transfer Systems Open
We present a 2-D Van Atta array for far-field wireless power transfer systems. The antenna array is made up of wideband, wideangle long slots. The monostatic radar cross section (RCS) of the finite array is derived by windowing the apertur…
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Biotic drivers of seedling establishment in Neotropical savannas: selective granivory and seedling herbivory by leaf‐cutter ants as an ecological filter Open
Summary Herbivory has been shown to have prominent top‐down effects on vegetation in Paleotropical savannas, where consumers of early stages of life history act as demographic bottlenecks. Such impact has been largely ignored in Neotropica…
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Disentangling nutritional pathways linking leafcutter ants and their co‐evolved fungal symbionts using stable isotopes Open
Leafcutter ants are the ultimate insect superorganisms, with up to millions of physiologically specialized workers cooperating to cut and transport vegetation and then convert it into compost used to cultivate co‐evolved fungi, domesticate…
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Obligate plant farming by a specialized ant Open
Many epiphytic plants have associated with ants to gain nutrients. Here, we report a novel type of ant-plant symbiosis in Fiji where one ant species actively and exclusively plants the seeds and fertilizes the seedlings of six species of S…
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Roads increase population growth rates of a native leaf‐cutter ant in Neotropical savannahs Open
Summary A challenge in applied ecology is understanding the responses of native species to roads, which are ubiquitous drivers of environmental heterogeneity. While most studies highlight their negative effects, the potential for native sp…
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Leaf processing behaviour in <i>Atta</i> leafcutter ants: 90% of leaf cutting takes place inside the nest, and ants select pieces that require less cutting Open
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, s…
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Alarm Pheromone Composition and Behavioral Activity in Fungus-Growing Ants Open
Chemical communication is a dominant method of communication throughout the animal kingdom and can be especially important in group-living animals in which communicating threats, either from predation or other dangers, can have large impac…
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Phylogenomic reconstruction reveals new insights into the evolution and biogeography of <i>Atta</i> leaf‐cutting ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Open
Atta Fabricius is an ecologically dominant leaf‐cutting ant genus, the major herbivore of the Neotropics, and an agricultural pest of great economic importance. Phylogenetic relationships within Atta have until now remained uncertain, and …
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Cytogenetic data on six leafcutter ants of the genus Acromyrmex Mayr, 1865 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae): insights into chromosome evolution and taxonomic implications Open
Cytogenetic data for the genus Acromyrmex Mayr, 1865 are available, to date, for a few species from Brazil and Uruguay, which have uniform chromosome numbers (2n = 38). The recent cytogenetic data of Acromyrmex striatus (Roger, 1863), incl…
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Infrastructure construction without information exchange: the trail clearing mechanism in<i>Atta</i>leafcutter ants Open
A wide range of group-living animals construct tangible infrastructure networks, often of remarkable size and complexity. In ant colonies, infrastructure construction may require tens of thousands of work hours distributed among many thous…
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Predation risk estimated on live and artificial insect prey follows different patterns Open
Models mimicking prey organisms are increasingly used in ecological studies, including testing fundamental ecological and evolutionary theories. The general consensus is that predation risk estimated on artificial models may not quantitati…
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Phylogenomics and Divergence Dating of Fungus-Farming Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Genera Sericomyrmex and Apterostigma Open
Fungus-farming ("attine") ants are model systems for studies of symbiosis, coevolution, and advanced eusociality. A New World clade of nearly 300 species in 15 genera, all attine ants cultivate fungal symbionts for food. In order to better…
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Symbiont-Mediated Protection of <i>Acromyrmex</i> Leaf-Cutter Ants from the Entomopathogenic Fungus Metarhizium anisopliae Open
In some plants and animals, beneficial microbes mediate host immune response against pathogens, including by serving as defensive symbionts that produce antimicrobial compounds. Defensive symbionts are known in several insects, including s…
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Harsh Working Conditions and Poor Eating Habits: Health-Related Concerns of Female Head Porters (Kayayei) in the Mallam Atta Market, Accra, Ghana Open
Background . The kaya business is known to pose significant health-related risks to female migrants. This study sought to explore the health-related concerns of female head porters in the Mallam Atta market, Accra, Ghana. Methods . A quali…
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Chemical disguise of myrmecophilous cockroaches and its implications for understanding nestmate recognition mechanisms in leaf-cutting ants Open
Nest-specific recognition of Attaphila cockroaches by host workers in combination with nest-specific cuticular chemical profiles suggest that the cockroaches mimic their host's recognition labels, either by synthesizing nest-specific subst…
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What Can the Bacterial Community of Atta sexdens (Linnaeus, 1758) Tell Us about the Habitats in Which This Ant Species Evolves? Open
Studies of bacterial communities can reveal the evolutionary significance of symbiotic interactions between hosts and their associated bacteria, as well as identify environmental factors that may influence host biology. Atta sexdens is an …
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Strong positive allometry of bite force in leaf-cutter ants increases the range of cuttable plant tissues Open
Atta leaf-cutter ants are the prime herbivore in the Neotropics: differently sized foragers harvest plant material to grow a fungus as a crop. Efficient foraging involves complex interactions between worker size, task preferences and plant…
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Leaf-cutter ants engineer large nitrous oxide hot spots in tropical forests Open
Though tropical forest ecosystems are among the largest natural sources of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N 2 O), the spatial distribution of emissions across landscapes is often poorly resolved. Leaf cutter ants (LCA; Atta and A…
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THE GUILD OF SAPROBIONTIC NEMATODES ASSOCIATED WITH ANTS (FORMICOIDEA) Open
At least 14 different saprobiontic species of Rhabditida are intimately associated with ants on different continents. These myrmecophilous nematodes belong in particular to Diploscapter and Sclerorhabditis, and to the Oscheius Dolichura gr…
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Biology and Management of the Texas Leafcutting Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Open
Leafcutting ants are primarily a tropical group, but three species, particularly the Texas leafcutting ant, Atta texana (Buckley) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), occur in the southern United States. Leafcutting ants provide an example of the co…
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Contamination routes and mortality of the leaf‐cutting ant <span> <i>Atta sexdens</i> </span> (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) by the insecticides fipronil and sulfluramid through social interactions Open
BACKGROUND Leaf‐cutting ants (LCAs) of the genera Atta and Acromyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are important pests of forest plantations, agriculture and livestock. Toxic baits containing the active ingredients fipronil or sulfluramid are…
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Discovering the Giant Nest Architecture of Grass-Cutting Ants, Atta capiguara (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Open
Atta capiguara is a grass-cutting ant species frequently found in Cerrado biome. However, little is known about the giant nest architecture of this ant. In this study, we investigated the architecture of three A. capiguara nests from a fra…
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Epitypification and re-description of the zombie-ant fungus,<i> Ophiocordyceps</i> <i> unilateralis </i> (<i>Ophiocordycipitaceae</i>) Open
The type of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis (Ophiocordycipitaceae, Hypocreales, Ascomycota) is based on an immature specimen collected on an ant in Brazil. The host was identified initially as a leaf-cutting ant (Atta cephalotes, Attini, Myrmi…
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Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Foraging Networks in the Grass-Cutting Ant Atta bisphaerica Forel, 1908 (Formicidae, Attini) Open
Foraging networks are a key element for ant colonies because they facilitate the flow of resources from the environment to the nest and they allow the sharing of information among individuals. Here we report the results of an 8-month surve…
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Remote Sensing to Detect Nests of the Leaf-Cutting Ant Atta sexdens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Teak Plantations Open
Leaf-cutting ants of the genus Atta are an important insect pest in forest plantations in many countries of South America. The objective of this work was to evaluate the potential for using Landsat-8 images, with medium spatial resolution …