To Costa Ricans, the leaf-cutter ant can be one of the biggest pests to cause severe agricultural decay in parts of the country. To tourists, a trail of the hard-working red insects can appear as a ...

Biologists have found new types of specialized fungal parasites that attack the nests of leaf-cutter ants and their relatives. The discovery could provide clues for controlling the agricultural and ...

Leaf-cutter ants are named for their Herculean feats: they chomp foliage and carry unwieldy pieces, like green flags many times their size, long distances to their colonies. There they chew up the ...

A 15-year study of leaf-cutter ants and their relatives across North and South America found that their nests are susceptible to infection by a diverse group of specialized fungal parasites. The ...