What fungus-growing insects cut fresh leaves to feed their underground gardens?

What fungus-growing insects cut fresh leaves to feed their underground gardens? Leafcutter ants cut leaves and carry them underground to cultivate fungus.

The leaves are not their main food. Workers shred the plant material and add it to a carefully tended fungal garden. The cultivated fungus produces nutrient-rich structures that feed the colony, especially the larvae, while adult workers also consume plant sap.

Leafcutter ants belong mainly to the genera Atta and Acromyrmex and live in the Americas. Their colonies divide work among size-based castes: small workers tend brood and gardens, medium workers forage, and large soldiers defend trails and nests.

This agriculture depends on strict disease control. Workers groom the garden, remove contaminated material and cooperate with antibiotic-producing bacteria, including Pseudonocardia. The ants’ major fungal enemy, Escovopsis, can attack the crop, making waste management and hygiene essential.