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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 ~30% in a week ~50%
12 Verified sightings at Tambopata National Reserve From 2019 to 2026
982 In all 32 parks
December 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 Tambopata National Reserve
LIVEiNaturalistGlobal Distribution
Parks Where Found
Closest Relatives at Tambopata National Reserve
Before you go
What are the chances of seeing a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant in Tambopata National Reserve?
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant sighting in Tambopata National Reserve on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 50th most-seen of the 141 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
When is the best time to see a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant in Tambopata National Reserve?
December
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant in Tambopata National Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in January–February, May–July and September, the lowest months. That is one of Tambopata National Reserve's wettest months, with about 400 mm of rain against 45 mm in July.
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 Tambopata National Reserve the best place to see a Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant?
27th of 32
Of the 32 parks where we can rate Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant sightings, Tambopata National Reserve ranks 27th at about 10%. The best odds are in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Belize, about 40%), Rincón de la Vieja National Park (Costa Rica, about 40%) and Braulio Carrillo National Park (Costa Rica, about 40%).
Which relatives of the Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant live in Tambopata National Reserve?
Same family: Formicidae
The closest relatives of the Hairy-Headed Leafcutter Ant that you can see in Tambopata National Reserve (family Formicidae, Ants) are Bullet Ant (about 40%), Ectatomma tuberculatum (about 20%) and Eciton rapax (about 20%), 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 Tambopata National Reserve (12 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
