The bug society: Scientists excavate underground ant city that 'rivals the Great Wall of China' with a labyrinth of highways

A sophisticated underground ant city once populated by millions of insects has been discovered by a team of scientists.

The abandoned megalopolis, which features vast subterranean highways, paths and gardens, was found buried beneath the earth in Brazil.

It is thought to have housed one of the biggest ant colonies in the world. But no one is sure when the leafcutter species left and what caused their demise.

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Underground city: The network of tunnels and dens built by millions of Leaf Cutter ants in Brazil

Experts poured ten tonnes of concrete into holes on the surface – which served as air conditioning ducts for the ants – to expose the tunnels by solidifying in the space.

It took ten days to pour the material down the labyrinth of channels, which covered an area of 500sq ft and extended to 26ft below the surface..

After a month, scientists, led by professor Luis Forgi, began digging and revealed the incredible city described as the ‘ant equivalent of the Great Wall of China’.

The community of ants – described as a ‘superorganism’ because of the way they coordinated themselves – carried out a Herculean task building their giant home.

Sophisticated: Scientists reveal concrete casts of the circular chambers and roads connecting them

Vast: The Leaf Cutters are said to form the second most complex society after our own

Each insect would have repeatedly carried loads of earth, weighing more times more than the worker, a distance of what would be just over half a mile in human terms.

WHO LIVED IN THE MEGALOPOLIS?

The vast complex of tunnels in Brazil was once populated by the leafcutter ant. The leaf-chewing creatures, pictured below, are understood to form the second most complex societies on Earth after our own.

A single queen will collect the 300million sperm form males before she sets up her colony.

Then, her spawn – whose size will determine their function and future caste – will go about building and collecting vegetation. This plant matter is used to produce fungus, which sustains ant larvae.

Other ants’ sole role will be to take care of waste. They tend to be the older or more disposable in the community.

In particular, they are responsible for the removal of dangerous parasites such as the phorid fly. This creature sows its seed of destruction by laying its eggs into the crevices of the worker ants' head.

Larger ants, known as majors, are used to deter such enemies and are, in essence, an organised army. They can lift up to 50 times their weight. As with the armed forces in human societies they sometimes help with engineering projects such as digging tunnels.

In total, they excavated around 40 tonnes of soil to create the labyrinth, revealed the Nature’s Secret Power documentary, also featuring Dr Bert Hölldobler from the Arizona State University.

The network was designed to allow good ventilation and provide the shortest transport routes.

It features scores of highways connecting the main chambers – and, off the main routes, are side roads.

From there, paths branch out and lead to the many rubbish pits and fungus gardens, which are grown from the vegetation collected by the workers.

Leafcutter ants, which can produce similar colonies in a space the size of an acorn, have created such societies – all governed by a queen – all over the Americas.

The leaf-chewing creatures are understood to form the second most complex societies on Earth after our own.

A single queen will collect the 300million sperm form males before she sets up her colony.



Then, her spawn – whose size will determine their function and future caste – will go about building and collecting vegetation.

This plant matter is used to produce fungus, which sustains ant larvae – but must also be fed itself with leaves.

Other ants’ sole role will be to take care of waste. They tend to be the older or more disposable of the community.

They store rubbish in dumps and then transport it outside of the city. In particular, they are responsible for the removal of dangerous parasites such as the phorid fly.

This creature sows its seed of destruction by laying its eggs into the crevices of the worker ants' head.

Detail: The tunnels, filled in by concrete, are dusted off to show its complexity

Signs: Holes on the surface provided the only clues of what was beneath

Method: Ten tonnes of concrete was pumped into the labyrynth

Larger ants, known as majors, are used to deter such enemies and are, in essence, an organised army.