Nest Architecture and Colony Growth of Grass-Cutting Ants.

grass-cutting ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini) are found in the Cerrado biome and build giant nests with hundreds or thousands of large chambers. We assessed for grass-cutting ants whether the total volume of fungus chambers and other nest parameters grow at close or similar proportions to worker numbers in the colony. Data on fungus garden biomass, population, external area, number of entrance holes, number of fungus chambers, total fungus chambers volume, and nest depth were obtained during colony growth/nest development.