last updated 26.Apr.2008 |
Acromyrmex (leafcutter ants)
Acromyrmex is a genus of agricultural ants. These distinctive
spiny insects cut fresh vegetation to feed to a specialized fungus that
grows only in ant nests. The fungus serves as the ants' food source
and in return is cultivated and dispersed by the ants. Like other
fungus-growing ants, Acromyrmex are found only in the new world
tropics and subtropics. Acromyrmex is the more diverse of the two
leaf-cutter genera (the other genus is
Atta).
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Subgenus Acromyrmex
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Subgenus Moellerius
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