ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses leaf cutting ants (LCA)-nematode relationships, which have been described by A. Kermarrec and C. Laumond et al. who tried to control Acromyrmexoctospinosus with Neoapleatana carpocapsae, and its symbiotic fungus with mycophagous nematodes. The dose-response of LCA to the strains has been shown in vitro, and the lethal time diminishes regularly with an increased concentration of propagules. In adult ants, certain morphological features provide protection from invasion. The morpho-physiological and eco-ethological aspects underlined in this work illustrate the probable ant-nematode co-evolution process that may have begun in the Cretaceous-Oligocene period. Therefore, social vigilance and altruism are the basis of hygiene in the ant nests and hence cause the failure of microbiological control. Antennal detection of microorganisms is efficient at the molecular level, and many other devises have been developed by attine ants to control biohazards.
