Pest Management Professional, August 2011

technicalities Frank Meek Columnist ANTS P est management professionals PMPs have the opportunity to interact with many people including children Educating school kids about the positive aspects of insects and related organisms is fun because children ask many questions and are filled with wonder About six years ago my daughter and I were working in a remote village in Honduras on the Nicaraguan border when I ran across one of my favorite ants the leaf cutter These are fascinating creatures so much so my daughter had to pull me away from the trail I was observing This ant group Atta sp is relatively small compared to other ant groups E O Wilson listed 15 species of Atta in his book The Ants Leaf cutter ants can damage plants by gathering their leaves Ive seen small plants defoliated during a summer They also will wear a path into the soil and kill the grass when they trail back to their nest The leaf cutter collects parts of leaves and returns to the nest site in large cavities underground Once in the nest the leaves are made into a substrate that lines the nest and creates an environment for fungus to grow This fungal material becomes the food source for larvae and adults A leaf cutter nest can be large and old One species of leaf cutter ants Atta texana which is native to North America and can be found in Texas and La have nests that can extend 19 feet into the ground and occupy as many as 4520 square feet Leaf cutter nests can have several hundred to a thousand entrance holes In Texas the colonial homes can be old with the nest used longer than 50 years Large colonies like these will be divided in growing chambers for the fungus Because the fungal growth also creates decay of the leaves the colony is replacing the leaves continuously to keep the food supply constant The leaf cutter will travel great distances to find fresh leaves Foraging activities for these ants can extend as far as 600 feet and wear the ground along the trail to dirt In the heat of summer foraging normally occurs at night when temperatures are lower For the rest of the year theyll forage during both day and night Workers also will collect other organic items such as flower parts and seeds The colony might contain several functional queens and several thousand workers and soldiers The worker caste is polymorphic meaning there are many different sizes of ants ranging from 006 of an inch to a half inch The smaller workers cultivate the fungus from the leaves and tend to the young The medium sized workers forage for the leaves cut them and carry them back to the nest site The larger workers or soldiers stand guard and provide defense The colony also contains alates or winged reproductives that swarm from late spring to early summer The swarms normally occur just before dawn and can continue for several weeks In the ant world this is an amazing creature pmp You can reach Meek international technical and training director for Orkin Inc at fmeek@ rollins com My Favorite Ant Foraging activities for these ants can extend as far as 600 feet and wear the ground along the trail to dirt 30 August 2011 Pest Management Professional mypmp net