How do leafcutter ants cut leaves off of trees? #TeamTrees

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Special thanks to Leaf House Scientific (https://www.leafhousescientific.com/) for supplying the ants and to Dr. Fred Larabee (https://twitter.com/bugbiter) for the microCT images of Atta internal head musculature.

Here's a reading list for more info on leafcutters and references for some of the info in this video

A good place to start reading about leafcutter ant biology is:
Hölldobler & Wilson (2010) “The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct” https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393340877

“In a day, a mature leaf cutter ant nest can cut and gather 100,000s of leaf fragments”
Wirth et al. (2003) “Herbivory of Leaf-Cutting Ants: A Case Study on Atta colombica in the Tropical Rainforest of Panama” https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-05259-4

Evolutionary transition dates for fungus farming and leaf-cutting:
Schultz & Brady (2008) “Major evolutionary transitions in ant agriculture” PNAS https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0711024105

Vibratory signals during leaf cutting:
Roces & Hölldobler (1996) “Use of stridulation in foraging leaf-cutting ants: mechanical support during cutting or short-range recruitment signal?” Behav Ecol & SocioBiol https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650050292

Vibratory signals during digging and sound recording clip:
Pielström & Roces (2012) “Vibrational communication in the spatial organization of collective digging in the leaf-cutting ant Atta vollenweideri” Anim Behav https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.07.008

Видео How do leafcutter ants cut leaves off of trees? #TeamTrees канала Ant Lab