5 replies to this topic

[Vendayn]

I thought the Solenopsis invicta disappeared, but I haven't been to the end of the river in over year. They must have dozens and dozens of mounds. The mounds go into the thick of the trees where I can't get to, and I see fresh looking S. invicta mounds on the hillside going up to a housing area and part of the nature reserve. I can't get up there because its fenced in and private property, so I dunno how it looks on the other side of the hill. I'd have to walk all the way around to get to the trail that goes in the back, but I can't get to it from the side of the hill my complex is in. They must been there a while, but there are mounds all over. The other day I was only on top on side walk and there was 7 mounds in the grass, but I went past the fence and it was really hard to not step on any mounds.

 

On the bright side? Not a single Argentine ant anywhere near them. So I guess the Argentine ants got completely defeated on that side of the complex/river. I didn't see any battles, but I didn't stay in one place long, too many fire ants.

 

Looks like they must be the multiple super colony variety. A few years ago they'd have the occasional mound, but never so many mounds and in a dense area. I won't even be able to go down there again really, cause too many mounds and I'm not interested in getting stung all over lol.

 

I'm guessing they must have come when the new complex they are building (an expansion of this one) started getting irrigation. They brought in tons of plants, which seems to bring in non-native stuff. All that got brought in last year at some point, but I don't think Solenopsis invicta could expand THAT fast. So probably more they've been around and this is the first year (that I've re-discovered them) they are an actual threat to the Argentine ants. Previous years they've been around though long before the expansion. But I've never seen so many mounds all close to each other and so many of them. Usually its been a random mound and not much else, then the colony gets defeated by Argentine ants. This year seems pretty different for the S. invicta here.

Edited by Vendayn, March 31 2019 - 9:51 PM.

[TennesseeAnts]

That sounds like a super colony to me. It likely has dozens of queens, like the ones at my friends house. At least there are no Argentine ants!

[Vendayn]

Wish I had a camera that worked. I was watching Solenopsis invicta attack a massive Argentine ant nest, was watching for about an hour. Toward the end the Solenopsis invicta broke the lines and I saw them entering the Argentine ant colony. Other Argentine ants that were coming from other areas of the river were still trying to attack, but were losing and not making any progress.

[TennesseeAnts]

Yay! Maybe S. invicta are actually good for something!

[Mdrogun]

Solenopsis invicta colonies have been found with 677 queens. The only thing limiting a polygyne colony's size would be the resources available. They honestly just sound like a placeholder for the argentines 

[Vendayn]

Solenopsis invicta colonies have been found with 677 queens. The only thing limiting a polygyne colony's size would be the resources available. They honestly just sound like a placeholder for the argentines 

Yeah kinda. At least Solenopsis invicta are more interesting than Argentine ants and Solenopsis invicta looks cooler. But besides that, I'd rather have all native ants. But that isn't gonna happen around here. So if there is gonna be invasive ants (which there is, its either Argentine ants or something else), hopefully it ends up being any other ant than Argentine ants...the most boring ant in the world lol. Though there is another species of invasive ant here, tried reporting them but dunno if they ever got my email. So with the Solenopsis invicta appearing in quite large numbers, just gonna watch what all the ants do.

 

There isn't really any native ants left around here (locally) because of urbanization. Just a very tiny pocket of Pogonomyrmex californicus, but even they are getting killed by Argentine ants because irrigation got added near them. If there were actually native ants around, I'd take them appearing more seriously. But nope, just invasive and non-native ants.

Edited by Vendayn, April 3 2019 - 6:47 PM.