The Invisible Fire Ant
The Invisible Fire Ant
2. The Red Imported Fire Ant is also known by its scientific name Solenopsis invicta or they are sometimes simply called RIFA, Fire Ants, or Red Ants.
3. The Red Imported Fire ants were introduced in the United States in the 1930’s. Ships from Brazil unloaded cargo to Mobile, Alabama accidentally containing the Red ants.
4. The Red fire ant is native to North America.
5. Red imported fire ants usually build mounds that could be up to 18 inches in diameter and 18 inches high. It was reported in Alabama that some mounds were found to be over 2 feet high.
6. Fire ants can be a problem to people that are sleeping or bedridden because they can bite or sting individuals.
7. They do the worst damage in hot, dry weather. They invade flowerbed and gardens searching for moisture and warmth.
8. If the red imported fire ant is disturbed, it can bite and sting the intruder.
9. Red imported fire ants can crawl into air conditioning units and destroy the electrical wiring on traffic lights. In Texas, the ants cause more the $140 million dollars in damage each year.
10. The Average size of the Red Imported Fire ant is 3-6 mm long.
11. Red Imported Fire ants are Omnivorous, they feed on any living or dead plant, or animals.
12. Red imported fire ants destroy the seeds, fruit and seedlings of many types of native plants. Fire ants will attack reptile or bird eggs, nestling birds, beehives, adult reptiles, rodents, birds, and amphibians.
13. Fire Ants build huge dome shaped mounds, the nest building is mostly active after the rain.
14. The Average life span of an adult red imported fire ant is 60-150 days, a queen red imported fire ant can live up to 10 years.
15. The red imported fire ant species have been found in New Zealand, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin islands.
16. Worker ants become mature 2-4 weeks after hatching.
18. Red imported fire ants can be controled with insecticides such as carbaryl, diazinon, dursban.
19. The Red Imported Fire Ant, whose scientific name is Solenopsis invicta, was named “invincible” by scientists because of the ant’s aggressive behavior and the painful stings it inflicts.
20. They are extremely aggressive in behavior and usually produce mounds of soft, crumbly soil that contain their colonies. When these colonies are disturbed by ground vibrations from footsteps, flooding from watering, or exposure to sunlight, the worker ants will “boil out” of the mound, swarm over a victim, and sting repeatedly.
21. The ant stings by first firmly grasping the victim’s skin with its jaws and then stinging the skin by injecting venom from its stinger, which is located at the end of the ant’s abdomen.
22. Each Red Imported Fire Ant can sting multiple times. Its venom is unique because of the high concentration of toxins it contains. This causes a burning sensation at the sting site.
23. A Red Imported Fire Ant, in its immature stages, will rock back and forth to draw attention to itself.
24. Within the Red Imported Fire Ant society, there are different classes of ants, called castes. Each of the different types of ants-wingless females, winged females, and males-has a specialized role. Each ant is faithful in its role to ensure the survival of the colony.
25. As in other ant colonies, the wingless, infertile, female Red Imported Fire Ant workers are dominant. They have several roles: to defend the colony, build the mound, forage for food, and tend the brood of immature ants known as larvae. The work of the ants within and outside of the colony is dictated by the needs of the queen and the brood. There are major and minor workers, and they are differentiated by head size.
26. Workers tend larvae throughout their growth stage. The immature ants are fed, cleaned, and protected by adult workers.
27. Red Imported Fire Ant eggs are either male or female.
28. The type of care and feedings the female larvae receive from the worker ants will determine whether the ant will have wings or not. Winged females are potential queens. Wingless females will be workers.
29. All male Red Imported Fire Ants have wings. They do not work for the colony and exist only for reproduction. Males are the shortest living of the castes.
30. The average Red Imported Fire Ant colony contains 100,000 to 500,000 workers and up to several hundred winged ants and queens. Queen ants can live six years or more. Worker ants generally live about five weeks.
31. The Red Imported Fire Ants’ life cycle begins with mating flights. When the climate is right, male ants leave the nest and swarm in the air. Shortly afterward, winged females leave the nest and also fly.
32. The ants may release pheromones that help the other sex find them in flight, and they mate while still flying.
33. Within a short period of time, both sexes fall to the ground and the males die almost immediately. The female-now a mated queen-removes her wings and begins the process of starting a new colony.
34. The new queen tends and feeds the first eggs she lays until they mature. After this, the queen’s only job is to lay eggs. The queen now depends on worker ants to care for and feed her.
35. The eggs develop into white larvae, then pupae, and eventually adults. The development from egg to adult averages about 30 days.
36. A queen needs only about six workers to start a new colony. Almost overnight, the workers can develop a new mound several hundred feet away from their previous location.
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