Behavior evaluation of the Atta cephalotes ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) during the contamination of the fungus garden with Trichoderma lignorum

Behavioral evaluation of the worker ants of A. cephalotes during the decontamination of the fungus garden indicates that the task of cleaning (to prune the garden and to take out the spores of the contaminant fungus) by the median and minimum workers was critical in the decontamination of the symbiotic fungus when the spore concentration was 10³ and 10⁶ spores/ml. When a high concentration (10⁸ spores/ml) of T. lignorum (T-26) was used, mortality of the worker ants was detected, which probably were intoxicated by taking some element produced by the antagonist, therefore decontamination of the garden was not accomplished.