Showing posts with label fire ants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fire ants. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Fire ants
I almost stepped in this mound of fire ants at the garden today.
We used to not have these pests in Georgia, but they've slowly made their way here from Alabama and Texas.
Fire ants were introduced to the States sometime during the 1930's by hitching rides on freight ships from South America. Eighty years later, the species is widespread throughout the southeastern US.
A well-known predator of this aggressive stinging and biting ant is the South American Phorid fly.
It's halloween right? Ok... So the phorid fly lays its eggs on the thorax of fire ants. The tiny larvae enters the ant's body and wiggles to the ant's head where it feeds on muscle and nervous tissue. Gives me a headache just thinking about it! Eventually the larvae releases an enzyme that breaks down the membrane attaching the ant's head to its body. Yep - the ant's head falls off! Gross huh? The fly larvae remains in the severed head for another two weeks before emerging.
From South American Biological Control Laboratory:
Needless to say, the phorid fly is a friend to gardeners throughout the southeast.
Here's a short Youtube video about the Phorid fly and it's affinity for fire ant brains:
We used to not have these pests in Georgia, but they've slowly made their way here from Alabama and Texas.
Fire ants were introduced to the States sometime during the 1930's by hitching rides on freight ships from South America. Eighty years later, the species is widespread throughout the southeastern US.
A well-known predator of this aggressive stinging and biting ant is the South American Phorid fly.
It's halloween right? Ok... So the phorid fly lays its eggs on the thorax of fire ants. The tiny larvae enters the ant's body and wiggles to the ant's head where it feeds on muscle and nervous tissue. Gives me a headache just thinking about it! Eventually the larvae releases an enzyme that breaks down the membrane attaching the ant's head to its body. Yep - the ant's head falls off! Gross huh? The fly larvae remains in the severed head for another two weeks before emerging.
From South American Biological Control Laboratory:
Needless to say, the phorid fly is a friend to gardeners throughout the southeast.
Here's a short Youtube video about the Phorid fly and it's affinity for fire ant brains:
Honeybee hives are at risk from fire ants, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture.
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