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Encyclopedia of Social Insects pp 1–8Cite as

Fungus-Farming Ants (Attini in Part)

The fungus-farming or attine ants (subfamily Myrmicinae, tribe Attini, subtribe Attina) are a monophyletic group of 245 described species (including five fossil species) in 19 genera, as well as many additional species awaiting discovery and description. With the exception of a recent invasive record from Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, fungus-farming ants are exclusively New World and primarily Neotropical in distribution. The fungus-farming ants and their closest non-fungus-farming relatives in the subtribe Dacetina, a clade of specialized predators, share a most-recent common ancestor that was likely a generalized hunter-gatherer that lived around 60–65 million years ago, shortly after the end-of-Cretaceous extinction event when conditions favored predaceous and detritivorous life-history strategies. Early in their evolution, fungus-farming ants diverged into two main lineages, the Paleoattina (77 species in 3 genera) and the Neoattina (168 species in 16 genera), the latter...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA

    Ted R. Schultz

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  1. Ted R. Schultz
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Correspondence to Ted R. Schultz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of the West Indies, Department of Life Sciences University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

    Christopher Starr

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Schultz, T.R. (2020). Fungus-Farming Ants (Attini in Part). In: Starr, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Social Insects. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_46-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_46-1

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  1. Latest

    Fungus-Farming Ants (Attini in Part)
    Published:
    01 April 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_46-2

  2. Original

    Fungus-Farming Ants (Attini in Part)
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    10 December 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_46-1

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