Completed
Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant
Atta cephalotes
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumArthropoda (Arthropods)
- ClassInsecta (Insects)
- OrderHymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies)
- FamilyFormicidae (Ants)
- GenusAtta
- SpeciesAtta cephalotes (Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant)
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
263 Verified sightings at San José
982 In all 32 parks From 2019 to 2026
November Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted
About the Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant
Atta cephalotes, commonly known as the hairy-headed leafcutter ant, is a species of leafcutter ant in the tribe Attini (fungus-growing ants). A colony can contain up to 5 million members, and each colony has a single queen that can live more than 20 years. The colony comprises different castes, known as "task partitioning", and each caste has a different job to do. This caste system includes minims, medias and majors.
The species is one of the earliest formally classified ants, first described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It was originally described as Formica cephalotes in his book the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, along with 16 other ant species, all placed within the genus Formica. It was later transferred to a new genus, Atta, along with five other species by Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1804. In 1911, American entomologist William Morton Wheeler designated A. cephalotes as the type species of Atta. It was also designated as the type species of Oecodoma, but the genus is now a synonym of Atta.
The elder workers manage the colony's rubbish dump. These ants are excluded from the rest of the colony. If... Wikipedia →
Recent sightings of Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant in San José
LIVEiNaturalistGlobal Distribution
Parks Where Found
Closest Relatives at San José
Before you go
What are the chances of seeing a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant in San José?
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant sighting in San José on a given day, based on 263 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 239 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
When is the best time to see a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant in San José?
October and November
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant in San José on a given day, against about 20% in January, April–May and August–September, the lowest months. Those are among San José's wettest months, with about 240 mm of rain a month against 20 mm in February.
What time of day is best to see a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant?
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Is San José the best place to see a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant?
Among the best
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant sightings, San José ranks 2nd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Cali (Colombia, about 30%).
Which relatives of the Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant live in San José?
Same family: Formicidae
The closest relatives of the Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant that you can see in San José (family Formicidae, Ants) are Shimmering Golden Sugar Ant (about 10%), Tropical Carpenter Ant (about 10%) and Compact Carpenter Ant (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
Where does the Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant sighting chance come from?
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant is recorded against all the insects logged in San José (263 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
