Strong positive allometry of bite force in leaf-cutter ants increases the range of cuttable plant tissues.

ABSTRACT: Atta leaf-cutter ants are the prime herbivore in the Neotropics: differently sized foragers harvest plant material to grow a fungus as a crop. Efficient foraging involves complex interactions between worker size, task preferences and plant-fungus suitability; it is, however, ultimately constrained by the ability of differently sized workers to generate forces large enough to cut vegetation. In order to quantify this ability, we measured bite forces of Atta vollenweideri leaf-cutter ants spanning more than one order of magnitude in body mass. Maximum bite force scaled almost in direct proportion to mass; the largest workers generated peak bite forces 2.5 times higher than expected from isometry. This remarkable positive allometry can be explained via a biomechanical model that links bite fo

SUBMITTER: Puffel F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10357016 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature