14 replies to this topic

[William. T]

Hey guys!

 

Since Solenopsis Invicta is listed as present by DNR in Maryland, I have spent three years looking for them. But I have never seen one, despite looking at the ant mating chart. Would anyone tell me where I can find a queen? Thanks.

[AntTeen804]

I can't find any in Virginia either

[cpman]

You should be GLAD that you can't find them.

They decimate the native ant fauna where they really take hold.

 

With regards to queens: I've seen queens every month of the year here, usually running around just after their flights.

Just go out on a warm and humid day (80+ °F and maybe 60+% humidity), and if they are present, you should see many queens running around.

There aren't many S. invicta in my neighborhood, but I still see the queens fairly often. Where they are really strong, I've seen thousands of queens in the space of a few minutes.

 

Their colonies grow really fast. I've seen wild ones at around 10k workers in 5 months.

[AntTeen804]

Whoa

[William. T]

I have often made summer walks. But whenever I seen queens, my luck turns out with no containers to put them in. When I have containers, there are no queens. I have seen some sort of Solenopis queen that has a weird smell in the fall, though.

[Chromerust]

Find a park with grass and sprinklers. Look for large piles of dirt right in the grass, if it's not a gopher hole then it will be Invicta. You'll need to look for queens between 2-3 pm from my experience. They disappear pretty fast after that and your chances are slim to none.

[William. T]

Thanks! There seems to be no such mounds around me, however.

[cpman]

The best places to find such mounds are locations where people are likely to do widespread broadcast application of insecticide. It seems like sometimes people panic and end up killing all the natives and fire ants, allowing fire ants to become very, very dominant due to their rapid colony growth.

Edited by cpman, April 5 2015 - 6:04 PM.

[dspdrew]

That is what I always thought had a lot to do with why so many native ants are gone in Southern California urban and suburban areas. Not only being killed by Argentine Ants, but also by all the poison people are trying to kill the Argentine Ants with, which is never going to eradicate them, leaving only Argentine Ants left.

[Foogoo]

Find a park with grass and sprinklers. Look for large piles of dirt right in the grass, if it's not a gopher hole then it will be Invicta. You'll need to look for queens between 2-3 pm from my experience. They disappear pretty fast after that and your chances are slim to none.

 

Interesting, I'll have to be on the lookout. I don't think I've ever seen them either (except for one small colony last year that seemed to have disappeared).

[William. T]

From seven years living in North Carolina, you either get too many fire ants or none of them at all. I vividly remember a game the neighborhood kids used to play.You would first find a Solenopis Invicta colony and then try to step on the most ants possible, with SANDALS. When I was four I was sent to the emergency room because I tussled with a colony that seems especially aggressive. My foot was covered with bumps and they hurt so much. Where I lived, S. Invicta was a pest that made nests in cabinets, but here in Maryland we have a small, numerous species of black ants that still make a life a pain, but are, thankfully, placid.

[James C. Trager]

Maryland has lots of cool native ants. As said before, be glad you don't have fire ants. They're as interesting as some other ants, but nothing special, really, and are unpleasant to handle!

[AntTeen804]

Anybody ever been stung by a solenopis queen

[James C. Trager]

Those weird smelling, fall flying queens are probably Lasius - citronella ants.

[drtrmiller]

Anybody ever been stung by a solenopis queen

 

They do not have a stinger.