Will the new leafcutters use formic acid?

[Rayalot72]

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1807/20150212

It seems they have some acid, but it's hard to tell if they use it as a weapon. I know some leafcutters do use it that way, but was unaware of this specific species did.

 

[MartialisHeureka]

As attine ants such as these are in the subfamily Myrmicinae, they do not have formic acid.

This is a different acid that is used to control bacteria and other pathogens that may infect their fungal crop.

I don't know how they use their stingers, but it seems to me that the majors seem more reliant on their sheer strength than any sort of poison.

 

[Serafine]

That article isn't even referring to the abdominal gland in which formicine ants produce their acid, it's referring to the metapleural gland which is located in the rear part of an ant's torso (mesosoma). Most ants use that gland to clean themselves.
Leafcutter ants do not sting, they evolved their glands to produce chemicals that kill fungae and bacteria. Their soldiers rely on size and brute force and are some of the few ants that can cut through human skin and flesh. They just slice other ants in half.

 

[MikeSlugDisco]

Can confirm that leaf cutters will be fighting with large, slicing jaws.