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Imported Fire Ants by Timothy Lockley discusses the history of the Fire Ant and how it came to the U.S.
Know your ants! Here's a great web site showing the differences between various ant varieties.
A third-grader's perspective on ants.
Ant Control tips from IFAS.
Visit the Wonderful World of Insects.
a Special Report by Bob Hite
It could be a newspaper headline: Invading armies of stinging fire ants threaten 260 million acres in 12 southern states. Local ranchers and homeowners are on alert. Scientists are working day and night, night and day, on a secret weapon to eradicate the red menace. UF Entomologist Daniel Wojcik says: "The problem in the United States is that the fire ant is the biggest, toughest, meanest s.o.b on the block."
It all sounds like a monster movie fantasy, but it's true. Cattle rancher Tom Sims lost nearly a dozen cows to fire ants once. He says :"I went out in the pasture where I found the animals dead and looked around and you couldn't go ten feet without stepping on top of a fire ant mound."
Since the cattle deaths, sims has found a way to win his war against these piranhas of the dirt. Sims started rolling out the ploughs to crush the evil insects, queen and all. He poured lacquer thinner or gasoline down the holes to eradicate the pests.
As most Floridians know, there is more than one way to kill fire ants. UF Insect Ecologist Jerry Stimac says: "More than 150 products are currently registered for the control of fire ants. And if any one of them were extremely effective, we wouldn't have all those products on the market."
Plus, pesticide solutions can be harmful to the environment. That's one reason entomologists at the University of Florida are busy looking for a biological way to control fire ants. The trouble is, the fire ant has no natural enemies here.
Fire ants came to amerce back in the 1930's, as accidental stowaways in South American cargo, bound for Alabama. Fortunately, scientists believe they've now located the perfect predator to take out fire ants, the brain-eating Brazilian Phorid fly. UF Research Entomologist Sanford Porter, Ph.D. says "Now the ants are definitely afraid of these flies, they recognize them as a very important enemy. So whenever the flies come, the ants will freeze."
The flies lay eggs in the ants heads. As the baby fly, or maggot, grows, it swells the ants' cranium until its head pops off. It's a nasty way to go. As promising as this method is, there is no single solution to extinguish the fire ant. Still, for frantic Floridians, this new way to finish off fire ants is a fabulous find.