fungus-growing ant

English

Etymology

fungus +‎ growing +‎ ant

Noun

fungus-growing ant (plural fungus-growing ants)

  1. (entomology) Any ant of the tribe Attini, which grow fungi in their ant colonies using food scraps, the fungi are then used to feed the colony.
    • 1966 August 5, NEAL A. WEBER, “Fungus-Growing Ants: A symbiotic relationship exists between an insect and a plant, involving an effective culturing technique.”, in Science.org‎:
      Fungus-growing ants (Attini) are in reality unique fungus-culturing insects.
    • (Can we date this quote?), “Fungus growing ants”, in AntWiki‎:
      The fungus-growing ants are a New World group of > 200 species, all obligate symbionts with a fungus they use for food.
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