Anyone who has witnessed leafcutter ants in action cannot help but admire them. Their efforts seem so well orchestrated and efficient. The sense of wonder they inspire might well last until they have stripped your prized rose bushes bare.
Building upon their previous work, which appeared in Chapter 9 of their coauthored book The Superorganism, Holldobler and Wilson have done a masterful job of describing leafcutter ants in a way that is accessible to everyone while maintaining a high degree of scientific rigor. Holldobler has spent a lot of time studying ants and E. O. Wilson should require no introduction.
Most information in the book is drawn from study of the genus Atta, which is taken as a sort of prototypical leafcutter ant, although other genera are also discussed.
The Leafcutter Ants
Leafcutter ants are social insects, and according to the authors, the social insects stand at the pinnacle of insect evolution. This dominance arises because of cooperation and division of labor. Individual ants are fairly inconsequential. In the grand scheme of things it is the colony that matters. Indeed, ant colonies can be considered superorganisms.
Leafcutters range throughout the warmer climes and play a critical role in the environment. They also provide plenty of food for ant eating predators. Leafcutter ants are amazing creatures and Holldobler and Wilson have done them justice with this book.
The book is organized into short chapters covering everything from evolutionary relationships between the various species of leafcutters and closely related ants, to reproduction, ant caste systems, leaf cutting and trail systems.
One of the most interesting aspects of the leafcutter lifestyle is their relationship with certain fungi, which they tend in subterranean garden chambers. Even a reader initially uninterested in lowly creatures such as ants and mushrooms will develop a sense of admiration for them as they read.
Civilization by Instinct
Five hundred million years of evolution have served these insects well. Their colonies are built upon a caste system in which individual ants have specific roles, which may depend on their age or physical features. To a casual observer, all ants probably look about the same, but the excellent photographs and descriptions in the book make it clear that there is an amazing diversity in both the sizes and functional roles of individuals within a single colony.
Anyone with even a slight scientific interest in colonial organisms will be richly rewarded by reading The Leadfcutter Ants. It won't take along either, it being only 127 pages long (plus glossary). A single ant may mean close to nothing in this world, but oh, what a million of them can do when living and working together.
References
The Leafcutter Ants; Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson; W.W. Norton and Co.; New York, NY: 2011
Philip McIntosh - The author holds a B.Sc. in Botany and Chemistry and an M.A in Biology and he has thirty + years of experience in science and industry.
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