Ants Have Farmed Fungi for 66 Million Years
A Smithsonian-led study in Science traces an ant-fungus partnership that began after an asteroid impact wiped out much of Earth's plant life.
Updated on Nov. 7, 2026 in Botany
Smithsonian scientists report in the journal Science that ants have cultivated fungi for 66 million years, a partnership that began after an asteroid struck Earth and triggered a global mass extinction. The team sequenced genetic material from 475 fungi species and 276 ant species to build an evolutionary chronology of the relationship.
Why it matters
The findings place ant agriculture among the longest-running farming systems known in nature, and show that fungi flourished as plant matter decayed after the impact. Researchers say the timeline suggests the partnership helped ants recover and expand as life rebuilt.
The study sequenced 475 fungi species and 276 ant species, of which 288 fungi and 208 ants are involved in cultivation. Ants cultivated fungi for about 27 million years, following roughly 40 million years before they developed more advanced agriculture.
The players
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
The Washington, D.C.-based museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution, a federal research and education complex known for its scientific collections and studies.
The details
After the asteroid impact dimmed sunlight and halted photosynthesis for years, fungi proliferated by feeding on dead plant matter across the soil. Ants took advantage of the abundant fungi as food, and over time carried them from humid forests into drier areas, isolating them from wild populations.
Timeline
66 million years ago: An asteroid struck Earth, triggering a global mass extinction.
End of the Cretaceous: Ants and fungi became linked after the asteroid collision.
About 40 million years after the initial link: Ants developed more advanced agriculture.
Study published in Science on November 7, 2026.
The Big Picture
The study reframes the timeline of agriculture in nature, showing that ant farming predates human crop domestication by tens of millions of years. It extends the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's decades of research into ant evolution to a deep-time record of how fungi and insects co-evolved after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction.
The findings could inform future research into fungal cultivation and pest-control strategies in agriculture. The study does not specify any near-term commercial or consumer applications.
The takeaway
Partnerships between species can persist across tens of millions of years and reshape how ecosystems recover from catastrophe. Ant farming shows that long-term cooperation, not only competition, has driven life's response to mass extinction.
Further reading
Explore more on Botany for context on how fungi and plants shaped life after past mass extinctions.
Source note: This article includes information reported by PlusNews.
