After a heavy rain the alletes will have a nuptial flight. After a successful mating, the queens which has a fungus pellets in their special pouch under their mouth that they got from their mother colony will start digging to start a new colony of her own. A versicolor is a semiclusteral species of leaf cutter ant. This means that the queen has to keep foraging for food to maintain the fungus alive while waiting for her workers to emerge in a couple of weeks. The founding stage is about 6 to 9 weeks long before the workers emerge. The duration of founding stage varies on different circumstances that happens in the wild. In captivity different set up for these ants can also affect how fast they grow.

After tending the fungus garden for several weeks, the workers will finally emerge. From this stage it becomes much easier for the queen to survive since she will finally have her workers to help her care for the brood and the fungus garden. In the wild the colony grows faster because they can just adjust the needs of their fungus garden for optimal growth. This will encourage the queen to focus on egg laying while the workers take care of the garden and deliver more food for the fungus. As more workers emerge the fungus rapidly grows. The growth of the garden has a direct correlation with the population of this species. The bigger the garden the more workers will emerge in a fast rate. However, this scenario might be different in captivity because of the limitation an artificial set up. Even the best set up in the world cannot rival nature's way of nurishing a colony. On the other hand, a good leaf cutter set up can keep a colony happy. One of the best experience of caring for this species is observing the fungus grow and how it has a cascading effect on how many workers emerge each week as it grows with the colony. It is a very relaxing experience.