Acromyrmex heyeri

Acromyrmex heyeri is common in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. They harvest monocotyledonous leaves (Loeck and Grutzmacher 2001) and masticate their collected plant material into tiny pieces to create the substrate for growing their fungal gardens. A molecular study of co-occuring populations of this species and Acromyrmex ambiguus showed both of these species are cultivating Leucoagaricus gongylophorus but that there are differences in the fungal strains used by the two ant species (Pereira et al. 2015). This ant is host to the socially parasitic Pseudoatta argentina in Argentina and Acromyrmex charruanus in Uruguay.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay.

Nomenclature

 *  heyeri. Atta (Moellerius) heyeri Forel, 1899c: 31 (footnote) (s.w.) BRAZIL. Emery, 1905c: 43 (q.m.); Bruch, 1921: 199 (q.m.); Goni et al. 1983: 365 (k.). Combination in Acromyrmex: Bruch, 1914: 217; in Acromyrmex (Moellerius): Fowler, 1988: 287. Senior synonym of gaudens, lillensis: Fowler, 1988: 287. See also: Gonçalves, 1961: 127.
 * gaudens. Acromyrmex (Moellerius) heyeri var. gaudens Santschi, 1925e: 164 (w.) ARGENTINA. Junior synonym of heyeri: Fowler, 1988: 287.
 * lillensis. Acromyrmex (Moellerius) heyeri var. lillensis Santschi, 1925e: 165 (w.) ARGENTINA. Junior synonym of heyeri: Fowler, 1988: 287.