Leafcutter ant (Atta sp.) carrying a fragment of leaf. Leafcutter ants carry leaves to their nest and use them to cultivate a fungus as a food source.

---

Leafcutter ant (Atta sp.) carrying a fragment of leaf. Leafcutter ants carry leaves to their nest and use them to cultivate a fungus as a food source. Small workers (minims) are riding on the leaf, probably to deter nest parasites. Photographed in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

---

Size: 5119px × 3413px
Photo credit: © DR MORLEY READ/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: amazon, amazonian, america, american, animal, animals, ant, arthropod, arthropods, atta, basin, biological, biology, carrying, close-, collecting, cutter, detail, ecuador, ecuadorean, ecuadorian, entomology, fauna, forest, gathering, insect, insecta, invertebrate, invertebrates, jatun, leaf, leaf-cutter, leaf-cutting, leafcutter, minim, mutual, mutualism, mutualistic, nature, rainforest, relationship, reserve, riding, sacha, salticidae, south, symbiosis, symbiotic, transporting, tropic, tropical, tropics, wildlife, worker, zoological, zoology