Red Imported Fireant

Back in the 1930s some unwelcome aliens traveled by freighter to the United States. They came with a strong sting and rendered inactive any life form caught in their path. This species is called the Red Imported Fireant. Today, over eighty years later, it continues to wreck havoc in the agricultural industry. It has also been the cause of the quick evolution of a lizard in the US who has grown longer legs to be able to flee more quickly from this aggressive Fireant.

Management programs were developed wherever these ants resided. Once a non-indigenous species enters a new habitat they kill the weaker lifeforms and over time develop into super species and in the case of the Fireant, this translates to many millions of ants.

Forty-percent of the people in the US living in ant infested areas have been bitten by the fireant. When they attack they come in swarms travelling like a red wave over golf courses, school yards, and parks. They can destroy electrical systems as well as wild life that nests in the ground. It is clear that the fireant is more than a serious nuisance. Today fireants occupy 300 million acres in the United States, and that includes Hawaii. They continue to expand their area.

The dark red color appears on the head and body. They can easily penetrate cracks and enter buildings since their anatomy allows them to twist and wriggle freely. The queen lays the eggs, usually in the summer. The unfertilized eggs become winged males who mate with the queens.

The fertilized fireant becomes the female worker who either becomes a winged virgin queen or worker fireants delegated to nest duties.

It takes thirty days for the ant to become an adult. The queen’s life expectancy can be up to seven years, with the potential for laying 1600 eggs daily.

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