After the age of dinosaurs came the age of ant farmers
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 - 08:01
in Biology & Nature
A group of South American ants has farmed fungi since shortly after the dinosaurs died out, according to an international research team including Smithsonian scientists. The genes of the ant farmers and their fungal crops reveal a surprisingly ancient history of mutual adaptations. This evolutionary give-and-take has led to some species–the leafcutter ants–developing industrial-scale farming […]