Leaf-cutting ants and live oak: the role of leaf toughness in seasonal and intraspecific host choice
1982
WALLER, D.A.
The leaf-cutting ant Atta texana Buckley (Formicidae: Attini) forages on new leaves of live oak, Quercus fusiformis (Fagaceae), each spring in a central Texas habitat. The ants repeatedly attack one individual tree while nearby live oaks are ignored. Field bioassays showed that: 1) mature leaves remained palatable to the ants throughout the year, but that foragers were deterred by leaf toughness, and 2) the ants preferred mature leaf discs from the forage tree to those from the non-forage trees. Intraspecific preference appeared to be related to leaf toughness. Ants cut significantly more mature live oak leaves when leaves were sugar-coated, indicating that there is a toughness x palatability threshold that inhibits attack by the ants.
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