Speaking of the ants that have invaded our country, red imported fire ants can be considered "notorious":
However, on April 8, 2022, the Red Imported Fire Ant Research Center of South China Agricultural University released news that was recorded in Shantou, my country for the first time. The wild population of the invasive species little fire ant will soon form the "ant double evil" with the red imported fire ant!
Little fire ant nest
Picture source: Reference [5]
What kind of ant is the little fire ant, and can it be compared with red imported fire ants?
"Fire ants" are real and fake, five tips to identify
Little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata) , the scientific name is Wasmannia auropunctata, the common name is electric ant or cocoa ant, it belongs to the order HymenopteraFormicidae leaf cutter The genus Voidinae. This ant is native to tropical areas such as Central and South America. Due to the rapid development of world trade and the intensification of population mobility, small fire ants are distributed in almost all continents except Antarctica. The little fire ant is extremely destructive and has caused great damage to the ecological environment and humans in the invaded area. The World Conservation Union has included it in the list of the 100 most destructive invasive species in the world.
Although the name of the little fire ant also has the word "fire ant", the red imported fire ant belongs to the genus Red Imported Fire Ant, and the little fire ant belongs to the genus Voschii. The little fire ant is called the little fire ant because, like the red imported fire ant, it can cause burning pain through its sting, but it is much smaller than the red imported fire ant.
Little Fire Ant Worker ant and Queen ant
Picture source: Reference [5]
Little fire ant worker ant is very small, only about .3 mm. You need a magnifying glass to clearly observe the entire body of the worker ant. . Worker ants are golden brown or light brown in color and have well-developed stingers. At the same time, the antennal stalk of the worker ant is very long and can reach the back of the head. It also has an antennal nest. The head is much larger than the thorax and has two ventral stalk nodes. The front ventral stalk node looks like a square from the side and is significantly higher than the posterior stalk node. In addition, the body hair of worker ants is longer, upright, smaller in number and sparsely distributed.
Compared with worker ants, the queen of small fire ants is darker in color, showing dark brown, and is much longer than the worker ants, reaching about .7 mm. The antennae, antennal nests and body hairs of the queen are very similar to those of the workers, but the posterior abdominal stalk node is much smaller than that of the workers. Therefore, it is still easy to distinguish the queen ant from the worker ants.
Maybe at this time you will ask professionals if there is any way to quickly identify small fire ants? Of course there is, and the method is very simple. It can be quickly identified according to the five-step method. The so-called five-step method can be summarized as , one small, two colors, three shapes, four needles and five grooves.
Unique characteristics of small fire ants
Picture source: Reference [4]
One small: As mentioned above, the body size of small fire ants is particularly small. It is much smaller than other ants. The body length of ordinary ant workers is average. It can reach 4 mm and above, while the small fire ant is only 1.2-1.5 mm. You need a magnifying glass to clearly observe the entire body shape of the small fire ant.
Two colors: The color of small fire ants is golden brown, light brown or dark brown , not other colors such as black, red and white.
Three shapes: The body of the small fire ant has two abdominal stalk nodes , located between the chest and abdomen, and there are protrusions on the ventral surface of the nodes. At the same time, there are two very sharp spines on the back of the chest of worker ants, called and thorns on the thorax and abdomen segments . These spines are basically only found in large ants, and very small ants generally do not have such sharp spines, so the little fire ant is a special case. .
Four needles: There is a long sting on the abdomen of the queen of the fire ant, which is particularly obvious.
Five grooves: The head of the fire ant has two long and conspicuous antennae grooves, which reach directly to the rear edge of the head and can store the antennae.
This five-step method to quickly identify small fire ants is simple and easy to implement, and is very suitable for non-professionals. If you see ants suspected of being small fire ants in the wild, you can soak the ants in white wine to kill them. Then use a high-power magnifying glass to observe its body shape and determine whether it meets the above five characteristics to determine whether it is a small fire ant.
They are not picky about food or housing, but they are afraid of the cold.
Little fire ants are very adaptable to the wild and do not have too many requirements for their own "house". Their worker ants possess extremely superb "house-building" skills and can effectively use branches and leaves as nest-building materials. They can build small fire ant houses under rotten and dark leaves, wood and stones, and can even build ant nests. Built on trees or in grass. The "houses" built by small fire ants are both light and strong. If the environment where they live has heavy rains that cause floods, the rain can bring the ant nests to buildings and woods in advance to avoid being flooded.
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Little fire ants eating peanut butter
Picture source: CABI
In addition to having no requirements for living environment, little fire ants are not picky eaters and can eat almost anything. In the wild, it can not only eat seeds, fruits, sprouts, tender stems and roots of plants, but also like to eat animal remains, food residues, nectar, other insects, arthropods, invertebrates and vertebrates, etc. . When indoors, little fire ants are interested in foods high in fat content such as cooked human fat, peanut butter and vegetable oil. Therefore, when they are indoors, they often climb into the sink and cabinets in the kitchen to feed, contaminating kitchen utensils and food.
Although fire ants do not have much requirements for food types and living environment, they are very sensitive to ambient temperature. Generally, areas with cold climate are not suitable for the invasion and colonization of fire ants. They are very afraid of the cold. It only appears briefly in spring when the weather becomes quite warm. Even in autumn, when there is a slight coolness at night, the little fire ants will feel uncomfortable and will quickly move to a warm place. In these areas, such as England and Canada, small fire ants can only survive in warmer greenhouses. As a result, the small fire ants that often inhabit greenhouses have become well-known local greenhouse pests.
hurts people and animals, destroys agriculture, what else does it dare not do?
Full picture of small fire ants
Picture source: Reference [5]
It is no exaggeration to say that small fire ants are pests. Although they are small and inconspicuous in appearance, their destructive capabilities are very powerful and frightening, and they are extremely harmful to humans, animals and agriculture.
As the saying goes, "The snake's mouth is like a green bamboo, and the needle is on the wasp's tail." When it comes to the most poisonous part of the little fire ant, it is its sting, which is the killer weapon of the little fire ant. When encountering a powerful enemy, small fire ants will quickly sting the opponent with their stingers and then release special venom. Once this venom enters the human body, it will quickly circulate throughout the body with the blood. The person who is stung will feel severe pain and difficulty breathing . Sometimes it will also cause irritating punctate corneal lesions within a minute. It can take hours or even days to gradually recover, risking blindness.
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A person who was bitten by a small fire ant and developed corneal lesions
Picture source: Reference [1]
In addition, small fire ants are also extremely aggressive and often attack other animals on their own initiative.Small fire ants in the Hawaiian Islands often feed on turtle hatchlings, often eating newly born turtles, and attack the eyes and cloaca of adult turtles, causing a significant reduction in local turtle species. Even animals such as elephants, cats, dogs and leopards were not spared. They all became blind due to eye bites from small fire ants, and these blind animals also died one after another five years later. Today, the little fire ant is considered the most threatening ant in the Pacific region.
Little fire ants do many evil things, and they also fully display their harmfulness in agriculture. In addition to small fire ants directly eating the roots, stems, leaves and flowers of crops, they can also "graze" agricultural pests such as aphids, whiteflies and scale insects that damage crops. Little fire ants will look for the sweetest parts of the plant, and then "move" agricultural pests such as aphids, whiteflies and scale insects, so that these agricultural pests can suck the plant juices and then secrete honeydew to the little fire ants. Fire ants feed. It also repels other insects that prey on aphids, protecting these agricultural pests from natural enemies and parasites. As a result, agricultural pests are increasing day by day, resulting in poor crop growth and sharp decline in yields. What should I do if
encounters it?
Little fire ants have gradually become annoying ants for humans. Many countries have listed them as quarantine objects. For example, in 2018, Lianyungang Customs intercepted small fire ants in fresh pomelo imported from Thailand for the first time in the country. However, small fire ants are very small and difficult to detect in quarantine. They can easily spread across continents through soil, turf, hay, potted plants , plants with soil, fruit products and vehicles, bringing them to other regions and countries. Serious intrusion risks arise.
Little fire ants on a tree in the wild
Picture source: CABI
Moreover, little fire ants have extremely strong reproductive capabilities. Once they are not intercepted outside the country, they can easily spread rapidly within the country. Because this species has the ability to clone and reproduce queens independently, when small fire ants successfully invade an area, in order to expand the community and quickly reproduce the family, small fire ants can asexually reproduce to produce a queen, until the queen grows up. After it matures, it will lay eggs like crazy, and a super ant population will soon be established. Taking the Hawaiian Islands as an example, little fire ants have established a very large colony in just a few years, with a density reaching an astonishing 1.244 billion individuals per hectare, causing great harm to the local ecological environment.
Nowadays, the invasion of small fire ants has been discovered in Taiwan and Shantou, China. We cannot rule out the possibility that small fire ants still exist in other provinces in the south. So what should we do when we encounter small fire ants in the wild?
First of all, in view of the great danger of small fire ants, we need to pay attention to our own safety and report it to the local agricultural department as soon as possible and ask someone to handle it. It is best not to act rashly to prevent being stung. Secondly, if small fire ants are found in medium soil, plants, organic mulch, soil, peat and cargo loading tools, you can use phosphine and methyl bromide to fumigate to destroy the small fire ants.
We must also raise awareness of preventing biological invasion , and do not blindly bring foreign species into the country, causing irreparable mistakes.
References:
[1] Paz A , Potasman I . Acute Ocular Pain following Contact with Electrical Ant's (Wasmannia Auropunctata) Excretions[J]. International Journal of Clinical Research & Trials, 2016, 1(2).
[2] Ma Jun, Hu Xuenan, Li Guiwen, et al. Be wary of the invasion of little fire ants[J]. Plant Quarantine, 2007, 21(1):2.
[3] Chen Naizhong, Wang Yanping, Chen Hongjun, et al. Little fire ants and their Prediction of suitable zones in China[J]. Journal of Applied Entomology, 2007, 44(006):855-858.
[4] Chen S Q, Zhao Y, Lu Y Y, etc. First record of the little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Chinese mainland. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2022.21(6): 1825-1829.
[5] Hu Lijuan. Be alert! Mainland my country records for the first time an invasive new species, the small fire ant, which may cause blindness if bitten [N]. Popular Science Times, 2022-4-9
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