ABSTRACT
The corn served as a control to insure that the ants were foraging, since it is highly palatable to A. texana. The foraging patterns of leaf-cutting ants have been the subject of speculation dating back to A. R. Wallace. Plant selection by the northernmost leaf-cutting ant species, Atta. texana, was studied in a central Texas habitat. A bioassay was designed to determine whether or not leaf palatability and/or cuttability could be correlated with the seasonality of ant foraging. Leaf density, or dry weight per unit size, is positively correlated with leaf toughness and is a measure of cuttability. E. O. Wilson has found that the larger A. sexdens workers cut tough leaves most efficiently while small ants cut soft vegetation most efficiently. Overall, the results revealed that different plant mechanisms are involved in seasonal defense against attacks by leaf-cutting ants.
