Leaf-cutter ants in Victoria, BC

Leaf-cutter ants at the Victoria Butterfly Gardens

The display was amazing.  Really.  A procession of ants, heading in opposing directions, with the sole intention of providing for the colony's needs.  And that is just what you can see.  Beyond the ant-superhighway exists a coordinated effort to cut, harvest, move, process, and feed the fungus that is the food source for the colony.  The leaf-cutter ants take the division of labour to a whole new level.

Queen - there is a single queen whose sole job is to lay eggs.  The highest estimates are around 30,000 eggs per day, although the real numbers are  probably in the hundreds or low thousands.  The size of the colony would affect that number as new colonies would not have the workers available to tend such massive numbers.

Worker - the ants don't actually eat the leaves that are cut.  Rather, the leaves are brought back to the nest where they are turned into a pulp and then used as a fodder for the fungus that growns on it.  This fungus (Leucoagaricus gongylophorus) produces hyphae swellings (a filamentous extension of the fungus body) that the ants eat.  Producing this requires numerous divisions of labour.

  • Foragers search for food sources
  • Harvesters cut and transport the leaves
  • Riders ride on transported leaves to ward off parasites (see photo below)
  • Gardeners tend the fungus
  • Nurses tend the queen, larvae, and pupae
  • Sanitation ants remove detritus
Leaf-cutter ant carrying a cut leaf; a rider (younger ant) rides along to protect it from parasites.  I photographed this at Victoria's Butterfly Garden

Soldiers are there to protect the colony from intruders.  These ants are larger and possess enormous mandibles to dispatch threats.  Many soldiers are not able to feed themselves and have to be fed by workers.

Drones are winged ants (like the queen before mating) that mate with the queen and then die afterwards.

It is estimated that a worker may live up to one year.  Queens may live anywhere from 10 to 20 years.  Over a queen's lifetime, she may lay upwards of 200 million eggs.  Yes, that's 200,000,000 eggs.

The entire colony is a well-oiled machine that takes division of labour to a whole new level.  I saw the colony at the Butterfly Garden in Victoria, BC.  The experience was really something and well worth the visit.  There are also dozens of other exhibits, not to mention the free-ranging butterflies in the main facility.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericpix.com

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