Certain species of which one of the following organisms are well known as cultivators of fungi ?
- (a) Ant ✓ UPSC's answer
- (b) Cockroach
- (c) Crab
- (d) Spider
Why the answer is (a)
• Leafcutter ants of the American tropics (Atta and Acromyrmex) cut leaves not to eat but to feed a fungus (Leucoagaricus) that they cultivate in underground gardens and on which the colony lives.
• This mutualism, some 50 million years old, involves weeding, fertilising and protecting the fungus with antibiotic-producing bacteria — a form of agriculture predating humans; option (a).
• Termites of the Macrotermitinae also farm fungus, but they are not among the options; cockroaches, crabs and spiders do not cultivate fungi.
• Hence option (a).
Why the other options are wrong
- (b) Cockroach
- Cockroaches do not cultivate fungi.
- (c) Crab
- Crabs do not farm fungi.
- (d) Spider
- Spiders are predators and do not cultivate fungi.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2022, held on 5 June 2022. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.