<em>Trachymyrmex</em> (IMAGE)

Rice University

<em>Trachymyrmex</em>

Caption

A fungus-growing ant from the genus Trachymyrmex, the closest living relatives of leaf-cutter ants, tending to a fungal garden. Both leaf-cutter ants and their Trachymyrmex relatives cultivate a specialized fungus (white) in subterranean farms. Researchers found that the same type of fungal parasites attack the farms of both Trachymyrmex and their leaf-cutter relatives.

Credit

S. Solomon/Rice University

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