Fire Ants

Writen by Josh Riverside

Fire ants are considered a notorious pest and can sometimes be life threatening. Two main species of fire ants, namely black imported solenopsis rchteri gorel and red ants solenopsis invicta buren are responsible for causing wide spread damage to crops, cattle and humans. The term imported fire ant stems from the fact that two species were fortuitously imported to the United States in the 1930's from South America.

A fire ant's sting can cause a sever allergic reaction lasting up to 10 days, at times posing a serious threat to life. Fire ants also adversely affect the ecosystem. Ants and several invertebrates are actually vital to the eco-system, as they aid in mixing and aerating the soil.

There are several reasons for the rapid spread of the imported fire ants. They have an extremely active reproductive capacity and can have several queens reproducing aggressively in a single colony. The queen cans transverse over a great distance before establishing a colony. In areas where the natural invertebrate predators are more powerful, fire ants may pose less of a problem. However, when humans cultivate or develop an area, the natural competing enemies of fire ants are eliminated and they reproduce rapidly.

Fire ants usually colonize inconspicuously in open sunny areas in mounts. They also colonize in walls of buildings, rotting wood, etc. Fire ants have omnivorous feeding habits and can consume only liquid or solids that are converted to liquid by regurgitating digestive enzymes. Quarantine measures have been introduced by the United States to safeguard areas that have not yet been infested.

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