This species is widely distributed geographically and can be found from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south, as well as on some Caribbean Islands.

[2] Two studies published in 2009 demonstrated that some populations of the species consist exclusively of females which reproduce via thelytokous parthenogenesis.

[6][7] Ants of the genus Mycocepurus are distinctly recognizable for the crown-like cluster of spines on their promesonotum, the fused mesonotum and pronotum on the front of their mesosoma or midsection.

Workers also do not have developed promesonotal spines in the center of their crown, which separates M. smithii from M. goeldii and similar species.

This led to M. smithii being recognized as the first fungus-growing ant species to reproduce via thelytokous parthenogenesis, where females, the workers and reproductive queens, are produced asexually.

[5][4] The cytogenetic mechanism of thelytoky is either apomixis (mitotic parthenogenesis) or automixis with central fusion and low recombination rates.

Narrow tunnels are presumably easier (energetically cheaper) to construct and may also aide in leveling the humidity or temperature of the colony or preventing predatory intrusions.

The female fore wings of all so-called Paleoattini (the genera Mycocepurus, Apterostigma, and Myrmicocrypta) have a crescent-shaped spot lacking any veins, hairs, and pigmentation, and is thought to provide an "easy to clean" platform for the fungus garden.

[6] Queens of the socially parasitic species Mycocepurus castrator do not found their colonies independently, and the clear spot is absent from their wings.

[9] As the colony matures, workers develop and then tend to the fungus garden, feeding it dried leaves, caterpillar droppings, and other debris from the leaf-litter.

[6][7] One trait of M. smithii cultivation is that, unlike higher attines, they use a wide diversity of fungal lineages for their gardens.