Farming fungi in a new Azteca ant colony

Moving to a new home is usually accompanied with a long to-do list, from painting the walls to unpacking boxes. For young queen Azteca ants however, one important job is to start growing fungus. Many tropical ant species are famous for their mutualistic relationship with fungi, carefully cultivating and farming different fungi species to use as food or building materials or even to trap prey. However, when and how the fungiculture is started is still a mystery. Do new queens culture fungi that just happen to be around in their new home at the time of colonization? And how soon after their arrival do queens start flexing their agriculture prowess? To answer these questions, Veronika Mayer from the University of Vienna and some of her colleagues set off to the tropics of Costa Rica in the hunt of young Cecropia plants that make ideal new homes for young queen ants.