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Project Noah Nature School
Acromyrmex versicolor
Entrances to ant nest.
Dry area with native vegetarian along wash.
"It's one of the world's most fantastic ant species, and it lives right in South Mountain Park." said Arizona State University biologist Steve Rissing. Leafcutters are not leaf eaters. They use the plant matter they gather on the surface as fertilizer to grow underground gardens of fungus, then they eat the fungus. The fungus has enzymes to digest the cellulose in the plant matter, but the ants don't. The underground fungus gardens are about the size of a softball. The queens bring the some of the fungus with them when they leave to mate and begin a new colony.
Spotted on Nov 2, 2014
Submitted on Dec 18, 2014
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