Atta cephalotes

Wells et al. (2017) - Forms large colonies with millions of workers and nests that can cover more than 100 square meters (Weber 1982, Meyer et al. 2011). In secondary forests and at forest edges, they can reach very high densities and are often the dominant herbivore in the ecosystem (Farji-Brener and Illes 2000). While they are also present in primary forests, their colonies are most common in secondary or disturbed forests (Farji-Brener 2001). The large nests of Atta cephalotes have a strong effect on the leaf-litter arthropod community, adding to spatial heterogeneity within neotropical habitats.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Lesser Antilles, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.

Biology
This ant is one of the most well studied tropical ant species.

Foraging
Bustamante and Amarillo-Suarez (2019) examined how temperature influenced foraging behavior. Nests and nest fragments were brought into the laboratory from field colonies located in forest and pasture sites (Cauca River Valley, Columbia). They found a significant difference in the number foragers at leaves placed in temperature-controlled foraging arenas across a range of temperatures. There were an increasing number of foragers from 15-35C, then a sharp and dramatic drop off at 40 and 45 C. There was no difference in the responses of foragers by habitat, i.e., the pasture and forest colonies.

Reproduction
Dijkstra and Boomsma (2006) investigated the viability of worker produced eggs in Atta cephalotes, Atta sexdens and Atta colombica. Most Atta workers have rudimentary, non-functional ovaries in a queenright colony but a few, typically tending the queen, can produce trophic eggs (Dijkstra et al., 2005). These eggs are feed to the queen. It was not known if any worker eggs can produce males. No Atta cephalotes eggs developed into males. They found Atta workers are not completely infertile, as a few males were found in other species' colonies, but worker fertility is very low. They hypothesize that worker reproduction in orphaned Atta field colonies is almost never successful because the last workers die before their sons can be raised to adulthood, but the importance of worker-laid trophic eggs for queen feeding has precluded the evolutionary loss of worker ovaries.

Interactions with other organisms
Many organisms use chemicals to deter enemies. Some spiders can modify the composition of their silk to deter predators from climbing onto their webs. The Malaysian golden orb-weaver Nephila antipodiana (Walckenaer) produces silk containing an alkaloid (2-pyrrolidinone) that functions as a defense against ant invasion. Ants avoid silk containing this chemical. In the present study, we test the generality of ants' silk avoidance behavior in the field. We introduced three ant species to the orb webs of Nephila clavipes (Linnaeus) in the tropical rainforest of La Selva, Costa Rica. We found that predatory army ants (Eciton burchellii) as well as non-predatory leaf-cutting ants (Atta cephalotes and Acromyrmex volcanus) avoided adult N. clavipes silk, suggesting that an additional species within genus Nephila may possess ant-deterring silk. Our field assay also suggests that silk avoidance behavior is found in multiple ant species.

Genetics
Atta Cephalotes has had their entire genome sequenced.

Palomeque et al. (2015) found class II mariner elements, a form of transposable elements, in the genome of this ant.

Nomenclature

 *  cephalotes. Formica cephalotes Linnaeus, 1758: 581 (w.) SURINAM. Olivier, 1792: 500 (q.m.); Wheeler, G.C. 1949: 677 (l.). Combination in Atta: Fabricius, 1804: 421; in Oecodoma: Latreille, 1818: 224. Senior synonym of migratoria: Retzius, 1783: 76; of grossa: Latreille, 1802a: 224; of fervens: Smith, F. 1858b: 180; of visitatrix: Emery, 1892b: 162; of integrior, isthmicola, lutea, oaxaquensis, opaca, polita: Borgmeier, 1959b: 340.
 * migratoria. Formica migratoria De Geer, 1773: 604, pl. 31, figs. 11-13 (w.) SURINAM. Junior synonym of cephalotes: Retzius, 1783: 76.
 * fervens. Formica fervens Drury, 1782: 58, pl. 42, fig. 3 (q.) MEXICO. Junior synonym of cephalotes: Smith, F. 1858b: 180.
 * grossa. Formica grossa Fabricius, 1787: 309 (q.) SURINAM. Junior synonym of cephalotes: Latreille, 1802a: 224.
 * visitatrix. Formica visitatrix Christ, 1791: 517 (w.) SURINAM. Junior synonym of cephalotes: Emery, 1892b: 162.
 * lutea. Atta lutea Forel, 1893e: 587 (s.w.) BARBADOS. Subspecies of colombica: Forel, 1908c: 349. Revived status as species: Borgmeier, 1950d: 259. Subspecies of cephalotes: Weber, 1958a: 10. Junior synonym of cephalotes: Borgmeier, 1959b: 340.
 * integrior. Atta cephalotes var. integrior Forel, 1904c: 31 (w.) BRAZIL. Subspecies of cephalotes: Gonçalves, 1942: 346. Junior synonym of cephalotes: Borgmeier, 1959b: 340.
 * opaca. Atta cephalotes var. opaca Forel, 1904c: 31 (w.) COLOMBIA. Subspecies of cephalotes: Gonçalves, 1942: 345. Junior synonym of cephalotes: Borgmeier, 1959b: 340.
 * polita. Atta cephalotes subsp. polita Emery, 1905c: 54 (w.) BOLIVIA. Raised to species: Borgmeier, 1939: 423. Subspecies of vollenweideri: Borgmeier, 1950d: 243. Junior synonym of cephalotes: Borgmeier, 1959b: 340.
 * isthmicola. Atta cephalotes subsp. isthmicola Weber, 1941b: 127 (w.q.) PANAMA. Junior synonym of cephalotes: Borgmeier, 1959b: 340.
 * oaxaquensis. Atta (Atta) cephalotes subsp. oaxaquensis Gonçalves, 1942: 344 (w.) MEXICO. Junior synonym of cephalotes: Borgmeier, 1959b: 340.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Aldana delq Torre R. C., and P. Chacon de Ulloa. 1999. Megadiversidad de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de la cuenca media del rio Calima. Revista Colombiana de Entomologia 25(1-2): 37-47.
 * Alvarez, G., I. Armbrecht, E. Jimenez, H. Armbrecht and P. Ulloa-Chacon. 2001. Ant-plant association in two Tococa species from a primary rain forest of Colombia Choco (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Sociobiology 38(3B):585-602
 * Armbrecht I., E. Jimenez, G. Alvarez, P. Ulloa-Chacon, and H. Armbrecht. 2001. An ant mosaic in the Colombian rain forest of Choco (Hymenoptera: formicidae0. Sociobiology 37(3B): 491-509.
 * Ascuntar-Osnas, I. Armbrecht, and A. M. Torres. 2018. Remocion de semillas por hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) en un gradiente borde- Interior de un bosque seco. Boletin del Museo Entomologia de la Universidad del Valle 18(1): 1-11.
 * Basset Y., L. Cizek, P. Cuenoud, R. K. Didham, F. Guilhaumon, O. Missa, V. Novotny, F. Odegaards, T. Roslin, J. Schmidl et al. 2012. Arthropod diversity in a tropical forest. Science 338(6113): 1481-1484.
 * Bezdeckova K., P. Bedecka, and I. Machar. 2015. A checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Peru. Zootaxa 4020 (1): 101–133.
 * Boer P. 2019. Ants of Curacao, species list. Accessed on January 22 2019 at http://www.nlmieren.nl/websitepages/SPECIES%20LIST%20CURACAO.html
 * Borgmeier T. 1939. Nova contribuição para o conhecimento das formigas neotropicas (Hym. Formicidae). Revista de Entomologia (Rio de Janeiro) 10: 403-428.
 * Borgmeier T. 1950. Atta-Studien (Hym. Formicidae). Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro 48: 265-292.
 * Borgmeier T. 1950. Estudos sôbre Atta (Hym. Formicidae). Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro 48: 239-263.
 * Burd, M. and N. Aranwela. 2003. Head-on encounter rates and walking speed of foragers in leaf-cutting ant traffic. Insectes Sociaux 50:3-8
 * Burd, M., D. Archer, N. Aranwela and D.J. Stradling. 2002. Traffic Dynamics of the Leaf-Cutting Ant, Atta cephalotes. The American Naturalist 159(3):283-293
 * Castano-Meneses, G., M. Vasquez-Bolanos, J. L. Navarrete-Heredia, G. A. Quiroz-Rocha, and I. Alcala-Martinez. 2015. Avances de Formicidae de Mexico. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
 * Chacon de Ulloa P., A. M. Osorio-Garica, R. Achury, and C. Bermudez-Rivas. 2012. Hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) del Bosque seco tropical (Bs-T) de la cuenca alta del rio Cauca, Colombia. Biota Colombiana 13(2): 165-181.
 * Crawley W. C. 1916. Ants from British Guiana. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 8(17): 366-378.
 * Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
 * Del Toro, I., M. Vázquez, W.P. Mackay, P. Rojas and R. Zapata-Mata. Hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de Tabasco: explorando la diversidad de la mirmecofauna en las selvas tropicales de baja altitud. Dugesiana 16(1):1-14.
 * Delabie J. H. C., R. Céréghino, S. Groc, A. Dejean, M. Gibernau, B. Corbara, and A. Dejean. 2009. Ants as biological indicators of Wayana Amerindian land use in French Guiana. Comptes Rendus Biologies 332(7): 673-684.
 * Doherty, K.R., E.W. Zweifel, N.C. Elde, M.J. McKone and S.G. Zweifel. 2003. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Markers Reveal Genetic Variation in the Symbiotic Fungus of Leaf-Cutting Ants. Mycologia 95(1):19-23
 * Emery C. 1894. Estudios sobre las hormigas de Costa Rica. Anales del Museo Nacional de Costa Rica 1888-1889: 45-64.
 * Emery C. 1896. Formiche raccolte dal dott. E. Festa nei pressi del golfo di Darien. Bollettino dei Musei di Zoologia ed Anatomia Comparata della Reale Università di Torino 11(229): 1-4.
 * Escalante Gutiérrez J. A. 1993. Especies de hormigas conocidas del Perú (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Revista Peruana de Entomología 34:1-13.
 * Escalante J. A. 1976. Hormigas del valle de K'Osnipata (Paucartambo, Cusco). Revista Peruana de Entomologia 107-108.
 * Estrada, A. and R. Coates-Estrada. 1986. Use of leaf resources by howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata) and leaf-cutting ants (Atta cephalotes) in the tropical rain forest of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. American Journal of Primatology 10:51-66.
 * Fernandes I., and J. de Souza. 2018. Dataset of long-term monitoring of ground-dwelling ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the influence areas of a hydroelectric power plant on the Madeira River in the Amazon Basin. Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e24375.
 * Fernandes, P.R. XXXX. Los hormigas del suelo en Mexico: Diversidad, distribucion e importancia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).
 * Fernández F., V. Castro-Huertas, and F. Serna. 2015. Hormigas cortadoras de hojas de Colombia: Acromyrmex & Atta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Fauna de Colombia, Monografía No.5. Bogotá D.C., Colombia: Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 350 pp.
 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * Field Museum Collection, Chicago, Illinois (C. Moreau)
 * Forel A. 1905. Miscellanea myrmécologiques II (1905). Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 49: 155-185.
 * Forel A. 1908. Fourmis de Costa-Rica récoltées par M. Paul Biolley. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles 44: 35-72.
 * Forel A. 1911. Die Ameisen des K. Zoologischen Museums in München. Sitzungsber. Math.-Phys. Kl. K. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. Münch. 11: 249-303.
 * Forel A. 1921. Quelques fourmis des environs de Quito (Ecuador) récoltées par Mlle Eléonore Naumann. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles 54: 131-135.
 * Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
 * Gibernau M., J. Orivel, J. H. C. Delabie, D. Barabe, and A. Dejean. 2007. An asymmetrical relationship between an arboreal ponerine ant and a trash-basket epiphyte (Araceae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 91: 341-346.
 * Gomez V. E. S., and G. Z. González. 2007. Catalogo de Las Hormigas Presentes en El Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad del Cauca. Popayán : 1-58.
 * Gonçalves C. R. 1942. Contribuiça~o para o conhecimento do gênero Atta Fabr., das formigas saúvas. Bol. Soc. Bras. Agron. 5: 333-358.
 * Gove, A. D., J. D. Majer, and V. Rico-Gray. 2009. Ant assemblages in isolated trees are more sensitive to species loss and replacement than their woodland counterparts. Basic and Applied Ecology 10: 187-195.
 * Groc S., J. H. C. Delabie, F. Fernandez, M. Leponce, J. Orivel, R. Silvestre, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, and A. Dejean. 2013. Leaf-litter ant communities (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a pristine Guianese rainforest: stable functional structure versus high species turnover. Myrmecological News 19: 43-51.
 * Houadria M., A. Salas-Lopez, J. Orivel, N. Bluthgen, and F. Menzel. 2015. Dietary and temporal niche differentiati on in tropical ants—can they explain local ant coexistence? Biotropica 47(2): 208-217.
 * INBio Collection (via Gbif)
 * IZIKO South Africa Museum Collection
 * Jaffe K., and E. Vilela. 1989. On nest densities of the leaf-cutting ant Atta cephalotes in tropical primary forest. Biotropica 21(3): 234-236.
 * Johnson R. Personnal Database. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/resources.htm
 * Kempf W. W. 1961. A survey of the ants of the soil fauna in Surinam (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Studia Entomologica 4: 481-524.
 * Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
 * Kooij P. W., B. M. Dentinger, D. A. Donoso, J. Z. Shik, and E. Gaya. 2018. Cryptic diversity in Colombian edible leaf-cutting ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insects 9: 191.
 * Kusnezov N. 1953. La fauna mirmecológica de Bolivia. Folia Universitaria. Cochabamba 6: 211-229.
 * Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Honduras. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-honduras
 * Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Nicargua. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-nicaragua
 * Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
 * Longino J. T., J. Coddington, and R. K. Colwell. 2002. The ant fauna of a tropical rain forest: estimating species richness three different ways. Ecology 83: 689-702.
 * Longino J. T., and R. K. Colwell. 2011. Density compensation, species composition, and richness of ants on a neotropical elevational gradient. Ecosphere 2(3): 16pp.
 * Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/
 * Longino, J.T. 2010. Personal Communication. Longino Collection Database
 * Maes, J.-M. and W.P. MacKay. 1993. Catalogo de las hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de Nicaragua. Revista Nicaraguense de Entomologia 23.
 * Mann W. M. 1922. Ants from Honduras and Guatemala. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 61: 1-54.
 * Menozzi C. 1935. Spedizione del Prof. Nello Beccari nella Guiana Britannica. Hymenoptera-Formicidae. Redia. 21: 189-203.
 * Meyer, S.T., I.R. Leal and R. Wirth. 2009. Persisting Hyper-abundance of Leaf-cutting Ants (Atta spp.) at the Edge of an Old Atlantic Forest Fragment. Biotropica 41(6):711-716
 * Miranda P. N., F. B. Baccaro, E. F. Morato, M. A. Oliveira. J. H. C. Delabie. 2017. Limited effects of low-intensity forest management on ant assemblages in southwestern Amazonian forests. Biodivers. Conserv. DOI 10.1007/s10531-017-1368-y
 * Mirmecofauna de la reserva ecologica de San Felipe Bacalar
 * Navarro, E.V. Vergara, H. Echavarria Sanchez, F.J. Serna Cardona. 2007. Hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) asociadas al arboretum de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, sede Medellin. Boletín Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa 40:497-505.
 * Pacheco, R., R.R. Silva, M.S. de C. Morini, C.R.F. Brandao. 2009. A Comparison of the Leaf-Litter Ant Fauna in a Secondary Atlantic Forest with an Adjacent Pine Plantation in Southeastern Brazil. Neotropical Entomology 38(1):055-065
 * Padilla R. C., and E. E. Miyazawa. 1972. Distribucion geografica de las especies de hormigas arrieras existentes en la Republica Mexicana. Fitofilo 67: 35-36.
 * Pescador A. 1980. Las hormigas arrieras. Naturaleza 11: 278-290.
 * Philpott, S.M., P. Bichier, R. Rice, and R. Greenberg. 2007. Field testing ecological and economic benefits of coffee certification programs. Conservation Biology 21: 975-985.
 * Pires de Prado L., R. M. Feitosa, S. Pinzon Triana, J. A. Munoz Gutierrez, G. X. Rousseau, R. Alves Silva, G. M. Siqueira, C. L. Caldas dos Santos, F. Veras Silva, T. Sanches Ranzani da Silva, A. Casadei-Ferreira, R. Rosa da Silva, and J. Andrade-Silva. 2019. An overview of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the state of Maranhao, Brazil. Pap. Avulsos Zool. 59: e20195938.
 * Radoszkowsky O. 1884. Fourmis de Cayenne Française. Trudy Russkago Entomologicheskago Obshchestva 18: 30-39.
 * Salinas P. J. 2010. Catalogue of the ants of the Táchira State, Venezuela, with notes on their biodiversity, biogeography and ecology (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Amblyioponinae, Ponerinae, Proceratiinae, Myrmicinae, Ecitoninae, Formicinae, Pseudomyrmecinae, Dolichoderinae). Boletín de la SEA 47: 315-328.
 * Sandoval V. E., and G. Zambrano. 2007. Catálogo de las hormigas presentes en el Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad del Cauca. Taller Editorial de la Universidad del Cauca, Popayán. 60 pp.
 * Smith M. R. 1963. Notes on the leaf-cutting ants, Atta spp., of the United States and Mexico (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 65: 299-302.
 * Solomon S. E., C. Rabeling, J. Sosa-Calvo, C. Lopes, A. Rodrigues, H. L. Vasconcelos, M. Bacci, U. G. Mueller, and T. R. Schultz. 2019. The molecular phylogenetics of Trachymyrmex Forel ants and their fungal cultivars provide insights into the origin and coevolutionary history of ‘higher-attine’ ant agriculture. Systematic Entomology 44: 939–956.
 * Solomon, S.E. and A.S. Mikheyev. 2005. The ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) fauna of Cocos Island, Costa Rica. Florida Entomologist 88(4):415-423
 * Swartz, M.B. 1998. Predation on an Atta cephalotes Colony by an Army Ant Nomamyrmex esenbecki. Biotropica 30:682-684
 * Taerum, S.J., M.J. Cafaro, A.E.F. Little, T.R. Schultz, C.R. Currie. 2007. Low Host-Pathogen Specificity in the Leaf-Cutting Ant-Microbe Symbiosis. Proceedings: Biological Sciences 274(1621):1971-197
 * Ulloa Chacon P., M. L. Baena, J. Bustos, R. C. Aldana, J. A. Aldana, and M. A. Gamboa. 1996. Fauna de hormigas del departamento del Valle del Cauca (Colombia). Pp. 413-451. In Andrade-C M. G., G. Amat Garcia, and F. Fernandez. Insectoss de Colombia, estudios escogidos.
 * Urbas, P. M.V. Araujo Jr., I.R. Leal and R. Wirth. 2007.. Cutting More from Cut Forests: Edge Effects on Foraging and Herbivory of Leaf-Cutting Ants in Brazil. Biotropica 39(4):489-295
 * Valenzuela-González J., Quiroz-Robledo L. y Martínez-Tlapa D. 2008. Capítulo 8. Hormigas (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae). En: Manson R., Hernández-Ortiz V., Gallina S y K. Mehltreter (eds) Agroecosistemas cafetaleros de Veracruz: biodiversidad, manejo y conservación.Instituto de Ecología A.C.-Instituto Nacional de Ecología (INE-SEMARNAT). P.107-121. ISBN 970-709-112-6.
 * Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
 * Weber N. A. 1938. The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part IV. Additional new forms. Part V. The Attini of Bolivia. Rev. Entomol. (Rio J.) 9: 154-206.
 * Weber N. A. 1941. The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part VII. The Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, species. Rev. Entomol. (Rio J.) 12: 93-130.
 * Weber N. A. 1945. The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part VIII. The Trinidad, B. W. I., species. Revista de Entomologia (Rio de Janeiro) 16: 1-88.
 * Weber N. A. 1946. The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part IX. The British Guiana species. Revista de Entomologia (Rio de Janeiro) 17: 114-172.
 * Weber N. A. 1947. Lower Orinoco River fungus-growing ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae, Attini). Boletín de Entomologia Venezolana 6: 143-161.
 * Weber N. A. 1958. Nomenclatural notes on Proatta and Atta (Hym.: Formicidae). Entomological News 69: 7-13.
 * Weber N. A. 1968. The Panamanian Atta species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 70: 348-350.
 * Weber N. A. 1969. Ecological relations of three Atta species in Panama. Ecology 50: 141-147.
 * Weber, Neal A. 1968. Tobago Island Fungus-growing Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Entomological News. 79:141-145.
 * Weber, Neal A. 1968. Tobago Island Fungus-growing Ants. Entomological News. 79(6): 141-145.
 * Weber, Neil A. 1968. Tobago Island Fungus-growing Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Entomological News. 79(6):141-145.
 * Wetterer J. K. 1993. Foraging and nesting ecology of a Costa Rican leaf-cutting ant, Acromyrmex volcanus. Psyche (Camb.) 100: 65-76.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1905. The ants of the Bahamas, with a list of the known West Indian species. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 21: 79-135.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1907. A collection of ants from British Honduras. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 23: 271-277.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1921. The Tachigalia ants. Zoologica (New York) 3: 137-168.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1922. The ants of Trinidad. American Museum Novitates 45: 1-16.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1942. Studies of Neotropical ant-plants and their ants. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 90: 1-262.
 * Wheeler, William Morton. 1916. Ants Collected in Trinidad by Professor Roland Thaxter, Mr. F. W. Urich, and Others. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparitive Zoology at Harvard University. 40(8):322-330
 * Wilson, E.O. 1987. The Arboreal Ant Fauna of Peruvian Amazon Forests: A First Assessment. Biotropica 19(3):245-251.
 * Wirth, R., S.T. Meyer, W.R. Almeida, M.V. Araujo Jr., V.S. Barbosa and I.R. Leal. 2007. Increasing densities of leaf-cutting ants (Atta spp.) with proximity to the edge in a Brazilian Atlantic forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 23:501-505
 * de Abreu J. M., and J. H. C. Delabie. 1986. Controle das formigas cortadeiras em plantios de cacau. Revista Theobroma 16(4): 199-211.
 * do Nascimento, I.C. 2006. Fenologia dos Voos de Acasalamento em Formigas Tropicais