Red imported fire ant
| Red imported fire ant | |
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| A group of fire ant workers | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Solenopsidini |
| Genus: | Solenopsis |
| Species: | S. invicta |
| Binomial name | |
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Solenopsis invicta Buren, 1972 |
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| Synonyms | |
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The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), also known as the fire ant or RIFA, is a species of ant native to South America. A member of the genus Solenopsis in the subfamily Myrmicinae, it was described by Swiss entomologist Felix Santschi as a variant in 1916. Its current name invicta was given to the ant in 1972 as a separate species. However, the variant and species were the same ant, and the name was preserved due to its wide use. The red imported fire ant is native to South America but it has been accidentally introduced in Australia, New Zealand, several Asian and Caribbean countries and the United States. The red imported fire ant is polymorphic as workers appear in different shapes and sizes. The ant's colours are red and somewhat yellowish with a brown or black gaster. However, males are completely black. Red imported fire ants are dominant in altered areas and live in a wide variety of habitats. They can be found in: rain forests, in disturbed areas, deserts, grasslands, alongside roads and buildings, and in electrical equipment. Colonies form large mounds constructed from dirt with no visible entrances because foraging tunnels are built and workers emerge far away from the nest.
These ants exhibit a wide variety of behaviours, such as building rafts when they sense that water levels are rising. They also show necrophoric behaviour, where nestmates discard scraps or dead ants on refuse piles outside the nest. Foraging takes place on warm or hot days, although they may remain outside at night. Workers communicate by a series of semiochemicals and pheromones which are used for recruitment, foraging, and defence. They are omnivores and eat dead mammals, arthropods, insects, seeds, and sweet substances such as honeydew from hemipteran insects with whom they have developed relationships. Predators include arachnids, birds and many insects including other ants, dragonflies, earwigs, and beetles. The ant is a host to parasites and to a number of pathogens, nematodes, and viruses which have been viewed as potential biological control agents. Nuptial flight occurs during the warm seasons, and the alates may mate for as long as 30 minutes. Colony founding can be done via a single queen or a group of queens, who will later contest for dominance once the first workers emerge. Workers can live for several months while queens can live for years; colony numbers can vary from 100,000 to 250,000 individuals. Two forms of society in the red imported fire ant exist: polygynous colonies (nests with multiple queens) and monogynous colonies (nests with one queen).
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Wikipedia