![fungus farming ant carrying a leaf fragment](/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg/public/media/image/entantlabhero.jpg.webp?itok=x72qoBle)
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AntLab
![fungus farming ant carrying a leaf fragment](/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg/public/media/image/entantlabhero.jpg.webp?itok=x72qoBle)
Research in the Smithsonian AntLab largely focuses on the systematics, phylogenetics, and biodiversity of ants (family Formicidae).
Two main themes run through most of our research:
- The evolution, phylogenetics, and systematics of all ants with special emphasis on the fungus-growing ants; (tribe Attini, subfamily Myrmicinae).
- The quantitative sampling of leaf-litter ants of South America with particular focus on the ants of the Guiana Shield.
![Entomologist Ted Schultz posing with the Ant Lab's leaf-cutting ant farm](/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg/public/media/image/antlabts-fungusfarms_0.jpg.webp?itok=_IwDc3DG)