Mycocepurus
smithii is an attine fungus-growing ant from Latin America whose
species consists exclusively of females which reproduce asexually. The
queen reproduces by parthenogenesis and all ants in a colony are female
clones of the queen. The ants cultivate a garden of fungus inside their
colony grown with pieces of dead vegetables and other insects. It is
this capacity for farming which initially prompted research into the
species as a basal genus member would provide insight into the natural
history of the fungal-cultivating ant tribe, Attini.
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