Atta cephalotes

Atta cephalotes
Atta cephalotes worker carrying leaf segment
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Genus: Atta
Species:
A. cephalotes
Binomial name
Atta cephalotes
Synonyms
  • Atta cephalotes integrior Forel, 1904
  • Atta cephalotes isthmicola Weber, 1941
  • Atta cephalotes oaxaquensis Gonçalves, 1942
  • Atta cephalotes opaca Forel, 1904
  • Atta cephalotes polita Emery, 1905
  • Atta lutea Forel, 1893
  • Formica fervens Drury, 1782
  • Formica grossa Fabricius, 1787
  • Formica migratoria De Geer, 1773
  • Formica visitatrix Christ, 1791

Atta cephalotes is a species of leafcutter ant in the tribe Attini (the fungus-growing ants). A single colony of ants can contain up to 5 million members, and each colony has one queen that can live more than 20 years. The colony comprises different castes, known as "task partitioning", and each caste has a different job to do.[2]

  1. ^ "Species: Atta cephalotes". AntWeb. 2010-06-30. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
  2. ^ Wilson, Edward O. (December 1983). "Caste and division of labor in leaf-cutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Atta): III. Ergonomic resiliency in foraging by A. cephalotes". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 14 (1): 47–54. doi:10.1007/BF00366655. ISSN 0340-5443. S2CID 23048898.