Click on image to enlarge leaf cutter ants picture.
Texas Leaf cutter ants are mounded ants, like fire ants..that establish a mound outside.
Leaf cutter ants mounds are mainly in the United States, in south central and eastern Texas
and into parts of western Louisiana. They are also called "cut ants" or "parasol ants".
A leaf cutter ant nest can be quite large,covering up ton several hundred
square feet in area and extend as deep as 8 feet into the ground.
Leaf cutter ants are mainly a rural, agriculture pest, but can be found in subdivisions.
Leaf cutter ants usually come to your attention when plants,
trees or shrubs are being stripped of their leaves.
The usually like to select one type of plant to feed off, ignoring others.
Leaf cutter ants are major agricultural pests in Central and South America.
It has been estimated they do $1 billion damage per year in North and South America(Mallis,1969).
Leaf cutter ants still cause millions of dollars in crop losses in many South American countries.
Although primarily an agricultural pest, leaf cutter ants on occasion may invade the home for cereals.
In the United States, the Texas leaf cutter ant, occurs in Texas and Lousiana.
This ant is believed to cause a total yearly loss of $5 million in the United States (Mallis, 1960).
LEAF CUTTER ANTS - APPEARANCE:
The worker leaf cutter ants range from size for 1/16"-to 1/2 ".
They are red, with two nodes.The winged reproductives or swarmers produced
by the leaf cutter ant colonies are quite big.
The females are well over 2 inch long with the males being much smaller.
Leaf cutter ants are rusty brown.
A relatively large ant with a spiny body and long legs.
LEAF CUTTER ANTS - INSPECTION:
Sometimes, leaf cutter ants enter structures, but don't stay long.
Look for leaf cutter ants nests that have high moisture such as creek beds,drainage ditches, and streams.
Sometimes you can discover their nest, by following the foraging ants home.
A leaf cutter ant nest will have many entrances with craters of loose soil that has been deposited above.
During the summer, leaf cutter ants workers forage during the night.
They will forage in the daytime during the spring and fall unless it is rainy or overcast.
A "trail" of leaves can lead you to a nest as well.
Try to discover the entrances to the nest for possible treatment.
The swarmers often swarm in the night during the months of April or May.
They are attracted to lights on buildings and can be found crawling,
by a hugh amount on the buildings following a major swarm.
They cause no damage.
LEAF CUTTER ANTS - DIET:
Using their scissor like jaws, leaf cutter ants completely strip trees and other plants of their foliage,
carrying back the leaves to their vast underground nests, where millions of ants live.
It is in these chambers that leaf-cutters do something very unusual with the leaves
that they bring back to the nest.
The leaves are not eaten; they are chewed into a pulp-like material, which soon sprouts a fungus.
This special, mushroom-like fungus serves as the colony's only food.
Being very selective about the species of leaves they collect
causes these ants to travel several hundred yards on leaf gathering foraging .
The leaf cutter ant ants leave an invisible scent on the trails they use in order to find their way home.
LEAF CUTTER ANTS - NESTS:
The nest may cover 3,000 to 4,500 square feet and may be 8 feet or more deep.
A leaf cutter ants nest has many chambers containing fungus, perhaps two to three dozen,
and many dozens of entrances.
In addition, the nest of some species of leaf cutter ants
may contain 1,000,000 or more workers.
Their queens are among the largest of ants.
LEAF CUTTER ANTS - BENEFICIAL INSECTS:
Leaf-cutter ants help maintain the health of the environment.
The by-products from the leaves, fungi and ant wastes fertilize the soil.
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