---
title: "Hairy-headed leafcutter ant"
description: "Atta cephalotes — Insetti e ragni. Atta cephalotes, commonly known as the hairy-headed leafcutter ant, is a species of leafcutter ant in the tribe Attini (fungus-growing ants)."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/hairy-headed-leafcutter-ant
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Hairy-headed leafcutter ant

> Atta cephalotes — Insetti e ragni. Atta cephalotes, commonly known as the hairy-headed leafcutter ant, is a species of leafcutter ant in the tribe Attini (fungus-growing ants).

- Scientific name: *Atta cephalotes*
- Category: `insects` (Insetti e ragni)
- Habitats: `forest` (Foresta), `jungle` (Giungla)
- iNaturalist observations: 9765
- Wikidata: [Q1945635](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1945635)
- iNaturalist taxon: [153974](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/153974)

## Names

- en: Hairy-headed leafcutter ant
- es: Hormiga arriera roja
- fr: Fourmi coupe-feuille à front poilu

## Countries with the most observations

CR (2385), CO (1159), MX (424), EC (366), PA (292), BZ (226), HN (169), TT (159), PE (151), NI (112), GT (73), BR (71)

## Summary

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.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atta_cephalotes

## Photo

![Hairy-headed leafcutter ant](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/hairy-headed-leafcutter-ant/medium.jpg)

Photo: Vijay Barve · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4864508

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/hairy-headed-leafcutter-ant?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).