Adventures Among Ants - Mark W. Moffett [185]
64. See Wirth, Herz, Ryel, Beyschlag, and Hölldobler, Herbivory of Leaf-Cutting Ants, cited in n. 1; and B Haines, Impact of leaf-cutting ants on vegetation development at Barro Colorado Island, in Tropical Ecological Systems, ed. FG Golley, E Medina (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1975), pp. 99–111.
65. JJ Knapp, PE Howe, A Kermarrec, Factors controlling foraging patterns in the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex octospinosus, in Applied Myrmecology: A World Perspective, ed. Robert K. Vander Meer, Klaus Jaffé, and Araqua Cedano (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1990), pp. 382–409.
66. RD North, CW Jackson, PE Howse 1999, Communication between the fungus garden and workers of the leaf-cutting ant, Atta sexdens rubropilosa, regarding choice of substrate for the fungus, Physiol. Entomol. 24: 127–133; and P. Ridley, PE Howse, CW Jackson 1996, Control of the behaviour of leaf-cutting ants by their “symbiotic” fungus, Experientia 52: 631–635.
67. R Wirth, W Beyschlag, RJ Ryel, B Hölldobler 1997, Annual foraging of the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica in a semideciduous rain forest in Panama, J. Trop. Ecol. 13: 741–757.
68. Leafcutters particularly favor seeds with elaiosomes; see IR Leal, PS Oliveira 1998, Interactions between fungus-growing ants (Attini), fruits and seeds in cerrado vegetation in southeast Brazil, Biotropica 30: 170–178.
69. One desert-dwelling Acromyrmex drinks from nectaries, but this is not surprising, since it depends on dried vegetation for its gardens and therefore cannot feed on plant sap; see JK Wetterer, AG Himler, MM Yospin 2001, Foraging ecology of the desert leaf-cutting ant, Acromyrmex versicolor, in Arizona, Sociobiology 37: 633–650.
70. DH Feener, KAG Moss 1990, Defense against parasites by hitchhikers in leaf-cutting ants: A quantitative assessment, Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 26: 17–29.
71. DH Feener, BV Brown 1993, Oviposition behavior of an ant-parasitizing fly, Neodohrniphora curvinervis, and defense behavior by its leaf-cutting ant host Atta cephalotes, J. Insect Behav. 6: 675–688.
72. Hitchhiking continues at night; presumably nocturnal riders use the time to scrub clean the leaf booty; see MR Orr 1992, Parasitic flies influence foraging rhythms and caste division of labor in the leaf-cutter ant, Atta cephalotes, Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 30: 395–402.
73. Flavio Roces, personal communication; and F Roces, B Hölldobler 1996, Use of stridulation in foraging leaf-cutting ants: Mechanical support during cutting or short-range recruitment signal? Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 39: 293–299.
74. H Markl, Manipulation, modulation, information, cognition: Some of the riddles of communication, in Experimental Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, ed. B Hölldobler, M Lindauer (Sunderland, Mass.: Sinauer, 1985), pp. 163–194. For more on modulatory signals, see Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson, The Superorganism (New York: W.W. Norton, 2008), pp. 231–235.
75. F Roces, B Hölldobler 1995, Vibrational communication between hitchhikers and foragers in leaf-cutting ants (Atta cephalotes), Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 37: 297–302.
76. See, e.g., CB Yackulic, OT Lewis 2007, Temporal variation in foraging activity and efficiency and the role of hitchhiking behaviour in the leaf-cutting ant, Atta cephalotes, Entomol. Exp. Appl. 125: 125–134; and EHM Vieira-Neto, FM Mundim, HL Vasconcelos 2006, Hitchhiking behaviour in leaf-cutter ants: An experimental evaluation of three hypotheses, Insectes Soc. 53: 326–332.
77. WOH Hughes, D Goulson 2001, Polyethism and the importance of context in the alarm reaction of the grass-cutting ant, Atta capiguara, Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 49: 503–508. As with the marauder ant, the vibrations can be another kind of distress signal: when a nest chamber collapses, the calls of buried ants attract the rescue squad that digs them out.
78. Relatively little aggressive behavior has been recorded between leafcutters, though Jack Longino told me of a monthlong battle between Atta cephalotes