| alarm pheromones of the ant atta texana. | | 1968 | 5649232 |
| identification of the trail pheromone of a leaf-cutting ant, atta texana. | | 1971 | 4944485 |
| synthesis of the trail marker of the texas leaf-cutting ant, atta texana (buckley). | | 1972 | 5007104 |
| leaf-cutting ants and avoided plants: defences against atta texana attack. | leaf-cutting ants (formicidae; attini) characteristically never attack some common plant species in their habitats. these plants may be defended against the ants in several ways. in texas, mature leaves of sapindus saponaria (sapindaceae) and celtis reticulata (ulmaceae) are unpalatable to atta texana buckley foragers, while mature leaves of berberis trifoliata (berberidaceae) are palatable to the ants, but are too tough to cut. young celtis leaves and and young berberis leaves are palatable and ... | 1982 | 28310402 |
| adverse effects on pollen exposed to atta texana and other north american ants: implications for ant pollination. | the effects of the surface secretions of eight species of ants on three types of pollen were bioassayed by exposure to the integument of undisturbed, living individuals for 20 min. ant species included atta texana which cultures fungi by means of various types of secretions. the frequency of grains showing membrane dysfunction, and therefore reduced viability, was quantified by means of a fluorochromatic test. comparisons of treated and control samples showed that in 46 out of 50 bioassays there ... | 1988 | 28311849 |
| conversion of 4-oxoproline esters to 4-substituted pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid esters. | the grignard, wittig, tebbe, horner-emmons, and reformatsky reactions of the 4-oxoproline esters gave the corresponding 4-alylated or 4-alkylidenated products, respectively. the products were properly treated with bases to cause aromatization, giving 4-substituted pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid esters such as methyl 4-methylpyrrole-2-carboxylate, which is a trail pheromone of atta texana. | 2009 | 19182407 |
| effects of substrate, ant and fungal species on plant fiber degradation in a fungus-gardening ant symbiosis. | fungus-gardening or attine ants have outsourced most of their digestive function to a symbiotic fungus. the ants feed their fungus - essentially an external digestive organ - a variety of substrates of botanical origin, including fresh and dried flowers, leaves and insect frass (processed leaves). although plant tissues are rich in fibers (lignocelluloses, hemicelluloses, pectins and starches) and the symbiotic fungus possesses the genetic and enzymatic machinery to metabolize these compounds, t ... | 2017 | 28193479 |
| biological responses of atta texana to its alarm pheromone and the enantiomer of the pheromone. | s-(+)-4-methyl-3-heptanone is the principal alarm pheromone of atta texana. the dextrorotatory form of the ketone has also been identified from atta cephalotes. both enantiomers have been synthesized in high optical purity; atta texana is more responsive to the (+) enantiomer than to the (-) form. these results implicate a chiral receptor system. | 1974 | 17790626 |
| ecology of microfungal communities in gardens of fungus-growing ants (hymenoptera: formicidae): a year-long survey of three species of attine ants in central texas. | we profiled the microfungal communities in gardens of fungus-growing ants to evaluate possible species-specific ant-microfungal associations and to assess the potential dependencies of microfungal diversity on ant foraging behavior. in a 1-year survey, we isolated microfungi from nests of cyphomyrmex wheeleri, trachymyrmex septentrionalis and atta texana in central texas. microfungal prevalence was higher in gardens of c. wheeleri (57%) than in the gardens of t. septentrionalis (46%) and a. texa ... | 2011 | 21671963 |
| evolution of cold-tolerant fungal symbionts permits winter fungiculture by leafcutter ants at the northern frontier of a tropical ant-fungus symbiosis. | the obligate mutualism between leafcutter ants and their attamyces fungi originated 8 to 12 million years ago in the tropics, but extends today also into temperate regions in south and north america. the northernmost leafcutter ant atta texana sustains fungiculture during winter temperatures that would harm the cold-sensitive attamyces cultivars of tropical leafcutter ants. cold-tolerance of attamyces cultivars increases with winter harshness along a south-to-north temperature gradient across th ... | 2011 | 21368106 |
| monoculture of leafcutter ant gardens. | leafcutter ants depend on the cultivation of symbiotic attamyces fungi for food, which are thought to be grown by the ants in single-strain, clonal monoculture throughout the hundreds to thousands of gardens within a leafcutter nest. monoculture eliminates cultivar-cultivar competition that would select for competitive fungal traits that are detrimental to the ants, whereas polyculture of several fungi could increase nutritional diversity and disease resistance of genetically variable gardens. | 2010 | 20844760 |
| antagonistic interactions between garden yeasts and microfungal garden pathogens of leaf-cutting ants. | we investigate the diversity of yeasts isolated in gardens of the leafcutter ant atta texana. repeated sampling of gardens from four nests over a 1-year time period showed that gardens contain a diverse assemblage of yeasts. the yeast community in gardens consisted mostly of yeasts associated with plants or soil, but community composition changed between sampling periods. in order to understand the potential disease-suppressing roles of the garden yeasts, we screened isolates for antagonistic ef ... | 2009 | 19449210 |
| inquiline roach responds to trail-marking substance of leaf-cutting ants. | nymphs and females of the roach inquiline, attaphila fungicola w. m. wheeler, respond to odor-trail substances of atta texana (buckley) and trachymyrmex septentrionalis (mccook). the ants are more sensitive than raoches to the pheromone. | 1964 | 17733069 |
| ant-fungus species combinations engineer physiological activity of fungus gardens. | fungus-gardening insects are among the most complex organisms because of their extensive co-evolutionary histories with obligate fungal symbionts and other microbes. some fungus-gardening insect lineages share fungal symbionts with other members of their lineage and thus exhibit diffuse co-evolutionary relationships, while others exhibit little or no symbiont sharing, resulting in host-fungus fidelity. the mechanisms that maintain this symbiont fidelity are currently unknown. prior work suggeste ... | 2014 | 24803469 |
| bacterial microbiomes from vertically transmitted fungal inocula of the leaf-cutting ant atta texana. | microbiome surveys provide clues for the functional roles of symbiotic microbial communities and their hosts. in this study, we elucidated bacterial microbiomes associated with the vertically transmitted fungal inocula (pellets) used by foundress queens of the leaf-cutting ant atta texana as starter-cultures for new gardens. as reference microbiomes, we also surveyed bacterial microbiomes of foundress queens, gardens and brood of incipient nests. pseudomonas, acinetobacter, propionibacterium and ... | 2016 | 27273758 |