Atta vollenweideri

A fungus growing species that uses grasses for its gardens. Workers transport cut grass along trunk trails and can forage up to 150 m from the nest. Foraging behavior differs by distance from the nest. Larger workers cut grass fragments when far from the nests and smaller workers pick up and transport cut fragments Longer transport distances lead to transport chains with up to 5 different workers moving a single grass clipping. (Röschard and Roces 2003)

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

Biology
Viera et al. (2015) - Queens of leaf-cutting ants found their nests singly, each consisting of a vertical tunnel and a final horizontal chamber. Because of the claustral mode of nest founding, the queen and/or her initial fungus garden are exposed to threats imposed by several soil pathogens, and the antibiotic secretions produced by their metapleural glands are considered a main adaptation to deal with them. Nests of two Atta leafcutting ant species, Atta vollenweideri and Atta sexdens rubropilosa, occur in different soil types, alfisols and oxisols. Their queens are known to excavate the initial nest in different soil horizons, clayish and organic, respectively, which differ in their fertility and associated microbiota. The results revealed that metapleural glands of A. sexdens rubropilosa have a larger number of secretory cells, and consequently a higher production of antibiotic secretions, which may have been selected to allow nest founding at the superficial horizon of oxisols rich in organic matter and microorganisms. Glands of A. vollenweideri, on the contrary, presented fewer secretory cells, suggesting less production of antibiotic secretions. We argue that the excavation of deep founding nests in A. vollenweideri was primarily selected for during evolution to avoid the risk posed by flooding, and further hypothesize that a reduced number of cells in their metapleural glands occurred because of a weak pathogen-driven selective pressure at the preferred soil depth.

Nomenclature

 *  vollenweideri. Atta sexdens r. vollenweideri Forel, 1893e: 588 (s.w.q.) ARGENTINA. Forel, 1912e: 179 (m.). Combination in Atta (Neoatta): Gonçalves, 1942: 348; Borgmeier, 1959b: 374; in Atta (Epiatta): Borgmeier, 1950d: 248. Raised to species: Forel, 1912e: 179. Subspecies of laevigata: Forel, 1913l: 237; Emery, 1924d: 354; of sexdens: Emery, 1913bb: 259. Revived status as species: Forel, 1915c: 358; Gallardo, 1916d: 341; Santschi, 1919f: 50; Santschi, 1922b: 363. See also: Borgmeier, 1939: 422; Gonçalves, 1942: 348; Borgmeier, 1959b: 374. Senior synonym of tristis: Borgmeier, 1959b: 374.
 * tristis. Atta vollenweideri var. tristis Santschi, 1919f: 50 (w.) ARGENTINA. Subspecies of sexdens: Borgmeier, 1950d: 253. Junior synonym of vollenweideri: Borgmeier, 1959b: 374.