Atta cephalotes
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources12 archives
Databases and archives Atta cephalotes's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation7 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility7 496 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI329 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics394 specimens↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Tree of SexTree of Sex Consortiumgenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Atta cephalotes is a species of leafcutter ant in the tribe Attini (the fungus-growing ants). A single colony of ants can contain up to 5 million members, and each colony has one queen that can live more than 15 years. The colony comprises different castes, known as "task partitioning", and each caste has a different job to do.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
No structured trait data for this taxon yet.
Compounds documented for Atta cephalotes across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile2 classes
Documented compounds7 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4-Methylheptan-3-one, (4S)- | present | LOTUS | |
| Feruloyl isoquercitrin 4'-glucoside | present | NPASS | |
| Hyperin | present | NPASS | |
| KRZBCHWVBQOTNZ-BBLPPJRLSA-N | present | NPASS | |
| Quercetin | present | NPASS | |
| Quercetin 3-rutinoside | present | NPASS | |
| UFCLZKMFXSILNL-GCBRTHAASA-N | present | NPASS |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Atta cephalotes has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Atta cephalotes carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 443×GoaT · Animal Chromosome Counts Database · GoaT · Tree of Sex Database · TreeOfSex · invert
2n 221×GoaT · Tree of Sex Database
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type7 496 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions14 of 37 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| National Biodiversity Institute, Costa Ricalocation not on record | 848 |
| CASlocation not on record | 624 |
| Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH)location not on record | 371 |
| Tapachula, MX | 328 |
| Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó (UTCH)location not on record | 210 |
| Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ)location not on record | 129 |
| Universidad del Vallelocation not on record | 125 |
| Chicago, US | 65 |
| The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobagolocation not on record | 56 |
| EL PASO, US | 53 |
| Cambridge, US | 33 |
| US | 26 |
| San Francisco de Campeche, MX | 23 |
| Durango, MX | 17 |
| Escuela Politecnica Nacionallocation not on record | 16 |
| Universidad del Quindío (UniQuindío)location not on record | 16 |
| Universidad del Magdalena (UniMagdalena)location not on record | 15 |
| Ciudad de México, MX | 14 |
| College Station, US | 9 |
| Sistema de Colecciones Biológicas, Escuela de Biología, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala location not on record | 8 |
| New Haven, US | 8 |
| Caja de Compensación Familiar - Comfenalco Antioquialocation not on record | 7 |
| Washington, US | 6 |
| Universidad EAFIT (EAFIT)location not on record | 5 |
| Provo, US | 5 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 4 |
| Universidad de Quintana Roo, Chetumallocation not on record | 3 |
| Stanford Universitylocation not on record | 3 |
| MX | 2 |
| Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)location not on record | 2 |
| North Carolina State University Insect Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| Lubbock, US | 1 |
| WIlocation not on record | 1 |
| Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record | 1 |
| Washington State Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Jardín Botánico Del Quindío (JBQ)location not on record | 1 |
| Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonialocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Atta cephalotes was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.