''Atta laevigata'' (

Smith Smith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England ** List of people ...

, 1858) is one of about a dozen species of leafcutter ants in the genus '' Atta'', found from

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and south to

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

. This species is one of the largest leafcutter species, and can be recognized by the smooth and shining head of the largest workers in a colony. ''Atta laevigata'' is known in northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

as ''hormiga culona'' (literally translated as "big-assed ant"), or as ''sikisapa'' in Peru, ''zompopo de mayo'' in Central America, ''bachaco culón'' in Venezuela, ''akango'' in Paraguay, and ''chicatana'' in Mexico. In

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they are known as "''saúva-cabeça-de-vidro''" (literally "glass-headed saúva"), with ''saúva'' being the common name for all ''Atta'' ants. The colony sizes of these ants are made up of around 3.5 million individuals.

Cuisine

The ''hormiga culona'' has been eaten for hundreds (if not thousands) of years, as a tradition inherited from

pre-colonial Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

cultures such as the Guanes. The ants are harvested for about nine weeks during the rainy season every year, at the time when they make their

nuptial flight Nuptial flight is an important phase in the reproduction of most ant, termite, and some bee species. It is also observed in some fly species, such as '' Rhamphomyia longicauda''. During the flight, virgin queens mate with males and then land ...

. ''A. laevigata'' are used as traditional gifts in weddings. There are local superstitions and beliefs regarding the ants as

aphrodisiac An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases libido, sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. These substances range from a variety of plants, spices, and foods to synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs, such as ...

s. The harvesting is done by local workers, who are often bitten by the ants with their strong

mandibles In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

. Only the

queen ant A queen ant (also known as a gyne) is an adult, reproducing female ant in an ant colony; she is usually the mother of all the other ants in that colony. Some female ants, such as the '' Cataglyphis'', do not need to mate to produce offspring, rep ...

s are collected, as the other ants within a colony are not considered edible. The

legs A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element cap ...

and

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

are removed, at which point the ants are soaked in salty water, before being roasted in ceramic pans. The main centers of production for ''hormigas culonas'' are the municipalities of

San Gil San Gil is a town and municipality in the Department of Santander in northeastern Colombia, located roughly 300 km (192 mi) from Bogotá and 95 km from the department's capital, Bucaramanga. As of 2020, San Gil had a population of 5 ...

and

Barichara Barichara is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. In 2010, in recognition of its history, architecture, and touristic potential, Barichara was declared a Colombian '' Pueblo Patrimonio'' (heritage town). ...

. From there, the trade of the ants is extended to

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander Department, Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and is the ninth most populous city i ...

and

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, where the packages containing ants are often seen during the rainy season. The primary exporting of the product is to

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and

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. Analyses conducted at the

Industrial University of Santander The Industrial University of Santander (), abbreviated in Spanish with the acronym UIS, is a public university, based in a coeducational, and research model. The university serves the Santander Department, being the main campus located in the cit ...

, on the nutritional value of the ants, show high levels of

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

, very low levels of

saturated fat A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds between the carbon atoms. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone, and fatty acids that each cont ...

, and an overall decent nutritional value. ''Atta laevigata'' is a temporary source of income for the poorer people of the department. The harvesting of the ant queens (as well as the competition for resources with more aggressive species of leafcutter-ants/"''arrieras''") causes a progressive decrease of the ant populations, as estimated in recent studies;Santamaria ''et al.'' 2005 according to observations, only a sixth of the ant population of twelve years ago exists today, and for this reason, there is concern about the species' future.

References

External links

*
Crunchy, Big-Butt Ants Entice Gourmands
In Discovery Channel animal news. Retrieved December 26, 2006. {{Taxonbar, from=Q292592 Atta (genus) Edible insects Colombian cuisine Hymenoptera of South America Insects described in 1858 Taxa named by Frederick Smith (entomologist)