The Leafcutter Ants in The Underground were created out of necessity.  We were designing Coryn, home of the Hill Ants, and we came to a sub-level in the colony that would house a massive fungus garden.  We wanted the farmers tending to the fungus to look distinctly different from the rest of the Hill Ant inhabitants.  So we went on a search for our next Creature Creation.

The Fungus Farmers

The Leafcutters were actually a really cool species to research.  They are in fact the most complex animal society on Earth.  Individual ants in the colony perform specific functions based on size, and a big portion of their function revolves around the cultivation of fungus.  We have a winner.

The different sizes of the Leafcutters range from a couple millimetres to sixteen millimeters!  The smallest workers, the minims and minors are typically found cleaning the leaves cultivated by the other workers.  The medium-sized workers (The Mediae) measure in around four to five millimetres, putting them right into the average range of heights we’ve seen with the characters in the story so far.  The Mediae will be a little shorter than Styx and his crew, but they’ll make up for it with the Majors.  The Majors are the largest members of the Leafcutter colony, and they are responsible for much of the heavy work.    While the first three castes are reasonably intelligent, we’re thinking the Majors are going to be simple brutes.

The colony feeds on the fungus that thrives on the leaves the colony cuts.  It’s a beautiful relationship on its own, and it will make a natural reason to have them present in within Coryn.  The fungus that they cultivate within the Hill Ant home will yield a profitable amount of food, and no other species in The Underground can tend to the fungus farms as efficiently as the Leafcutters.  This becomes a valuable service, so a strong relationship would naturally be formed between the Hill Ants and their farmer friends.  But in the Underground how strong, or long-lasting is any relationship?