Adult nests of leaf cutting ants (genus Atta and Acromyrmex) are composed of thousands of underground chambers, which harbor the fungus garden, garbage and their population. However, how the chambers are constructed? To answer this question, we hypothesized that the fungus garden acts as a template for the chambers construction. Thus, we used 20 colonies of 6 months of age, divided into four treatments: Normal (Control); Half fungal symbiont; Double symbiont fungus and No symbiotic fungus. The variables studied were: morphology, (tunnels and chamber formed); flow of activities of workers and volume of soil excavated. As expected, treatment no symbiotic fungus did not have any cameras, just tunnels, as opposed to other treatments that showed at least two chambers, with similar dimensions. The flow of workers carrying pellet of soil per minute for 72 hours, it differed between treatments. Thus, the volume of excavated soil was the result of the excavation rate of workers, differences among the treatments. The results confirm the hypothesis that the symbiotic fungus acts as a template for the construction of the chamber. The absence of a functional structure as a chamber when is absent of symbiont fungus proves the hypothesis.
leaf-cutting ants; digging the nest; division of labor
