6 replies to this topic

[Manitobant]

Interesting article about fungal parasites and their effects on invasive crazy ants. Perhaps this sort of thing could be used to combat invicta or argentines?


https://www.wired.co...-in-a-good-way/

[NicholasP]

I literally was just about to post about this. It's definitely great news since native ants are coming back to where they used to be. Hopefully there's another pathogen like this that would work on only Solenopsis invicta as they're basically the big cheese of invasives. These pathogens need to be used carefully though because if they spread to where these invasive ants are native it could throw off the ecosystem there.

Edited by NicholasP, March 30 2022 - 5:17 PM.

[jasond1979]

yes I was looking at that article here

https://www.msn.com/...1tx4?li=BBnbfcL

 

 

I never thought that crazy ants were a bigger pest than fire ants, or Argentine ants.

 

Jason

[NicholasP]

yes I was looking at that article here

https://www.msn.com/...1tx4?li=BBnbfcL

 

 

I never thought that crazy ants were a bigger pest than fire ants, or Argentine ants.

 

Jason

For Southern U.S. they are a bigger problem than those. But now the southwest is getting their fair share. A few days ago one of the first records of Linepithema humile was marked on INaturalist in Maricopa, AZ. This will be majorly devastating if the problem gets out of hand. Hopefully they find something to take care of Argentine ants since AZ is basically the bridge of ants from between Mexico and the U.S. because of the Chiricahua mountains. The Chiricahua mountains is home to some ant species that can't be found anywhere else in the state of Arizona or for that matter the whole of the U.S.. Arizona also is home of the most ant species in the entire U.S. including some rare and endangered ones.

[NicholasP]

Here's one of the ID's in that area of Linepithema humile since there's 2 records.

 

Argentine Ant from Maricopa, Arizona, United States on April 04, 2022 at 01:46 PM by jfmantis · iNaturalist

[Manitobant]

I'm pretty sure argentines have been in the phoenix area for a while, as there is an inat record from 2020 plus a record on antmaps. The reason they haven’t spread yet is because the arizona desert is simply too hot and dry for argentines, and because of that they are restricted to urban areas with lots of irrigation.

[ANTdrew]

Pretty simple solution there: stop irrigating all the dumb lawns and golf courses and grow native desert plants.