A study investigates the evolution of beneficial bacteria that live inside and on the surface of farming ants. Attine ants ...

A study investigates the evolution of beneficial bacteria that live inside and on the surface of farming ants. Attine ants farm fungi, in one of the ...

Known for having the most painful sting of any insect, the Bullet Ant is found in South American rainforests. Its sting can last up to 24 hours, often compared to being shot. Fire Ants are ...

Mycetomoellerius zetecki, one of the studied ant species. Actinobacteria are just visible as a pale area on the chest plates.

While our human ancestors began domesticating food crops around 10,000 years ago, a lineage of ants called the ‘attines’ became fungus farmers 60 million years earlier. The attine ants and ...

But insects beat us to it by millions of years. Various ant species cooperate with fungi, creating a home for them, providing them with nutrients, and harvesting them as food. This reaches the ...

Researchers have now used DNA analysis to uncover just how long ants have been farming fungi, now described in a study published Thursday in the journal Science. It turns out these insects have be ...

When building a bird nest in ant territory, the best defense could be an offensive fungus. Swollen-thorn acacia trees are aggressively defended by multiple species of ants. And yet, several ...

The ants plant, protect, provision, and cultivate their fungus, which then provides the ants with a stable food supply. Leafcutter ants have the most advanced attine farming systems and have ...