A Queen in Her Garden (IMAGE)

University of Texas at Austin

A Queen in Her Garden

Caption

A leaf-cutting ant queen (Acromyrmex coronatus) is sheltered in a chamber deep inside of her fungus garden, made of leaf fragments and strands of a symbiotic fungus. The garden was grown from a few strands brought by the queen on her mating flight from the maternal garden. After the mating flight, the queen never leaves her garden metropolis.

Credit

Alexander Mikheyev and Barrett Klein

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