Fire ants

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Fire ants
Some Solenopsis sp. Workers

Some Solenopsis sp. Workers

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Family : Ants (Formicidae)
Subfamily : Knot ants (Myrmicinae)
Tribe : Solenopsidini
Genre : Fire ants
Scientific name
Solenopsis
Westwood , 1840
Swarming sex animals

The fire ants ( Solenopsis ) or thief ants are a genus of ants (Formicidae) and belong to the subfamily of the knot ants (Myrmicinae).

features

The workers of the fire ants are usually brownish to reddish. The gaster is a bit darker and the head is copper-brown to reddish. They are rather small with a length of around two to six millimeters. The propodeum is rounded at the back and shows minor unevenness, but has no sharp thorns or recesses. The antennas consist of ten segments . The foremost two segments are formed into a distinct club. At the front edge of the frontal plate ( clypeus ) there is a single protruding hair or bristle in the middle.

These ants leave small pus pustules where they bite in the human skin and a burning pain when pricked. The strong poison of fire ants can cause allergic reactions. There is a risk of anaphylactic shock.

Similar species

Fire ants are easy to confuse with representatives from the genus Monomorium , but these do not have the club-shaped thickening of the antennae. Smaller species from the genus Carebara also look similar. However, they have hair arranged in pairs on the edge of the clypeus instead of a single hair that protrudes in the middle. In Carebara, the propodeum also shows clear areas or sharp thorns.

distribution

There are over 140 different species and other subspecies worldwide. A good 80 percent of them live in the Neotropic and the southern Nearctic . There are only a few species in Europe , and the taxonomy is in great need of revision. There is only one known species north of the Alps, the yellow thief ant ( Solenopsis fugax ). In the United States more species are widespread, but was in the 1930s from South America , the red imported fire ant ( Solenopsis invicta ) introduced that continues in North America expands and displaces the native there species, also the red imported fire ant in Australia has spread.

Way of life

Many species become highly polygynous . The colony foundation is done independently by a single queen or in pleometrosis by a few queens. New colonies can consist of several thousand individuals within a few months. The nests are usually made under stones or in the open field. In some species, the nests are directly connected to foreign ant nests. These species live kleptoparasitic and use the foreign food supplies or steal the brood. Fire ants of at least the two species Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis germinata are able to survive floods because the individual female animals and larvae form a bivouac raft with their bodies .

Biwak raft of the red imported fire ant ( Solenopsis invicta )

species

The following fire ant species are currently known:

Synonyms

The following names are synonyms for the genus Solenopsis :

  • Diagyne Santschi, 1923
  • Disolenopsis Kuznetsov, 1953
  • Euophthalma Creighton, 1930
  • Granisolenopsis Kuznetsov, 1957
  • Labauchena Santschi, 1930
  • Oedalecerus Creighton, 1930
  • Paranamyrma Kuznetsov, 1954
  • Synsolenopsis Forel, 1918

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Genus Solenopsis. Australian Ants Online, archived from the original on December 6, 2008 ; Retrieved July 20, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Vidal Haddad Junior, João Luiz Costa Cardoso, Roberto Henrique Pinto Moraes: Description of an injury in a human caused by a false tocandira (Dinoponera gigantea, Perty, 1833) with a revision on folkloric, pharmacological and clinical aspects of the giant ants of the genera Paraponera and Dinoponera (sub-family Ponerinae). Retrieved June 23, 2008 .
  3. ↑ Solenopsis Taxon Count. (No longer available online.) Hymenoptera Name Server, formerly the original ; Retrieved June 25, 2008 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / atbi.biosci.ohio-state.edu  
  4. ↑ Bernhard Seifert : The ants of Central and Northern Europe . lutra Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Görlitz / Tauer 2007, ISBN 978-3-936412-03-1
  5. ↑ Solenopsis invicta . (No longer available online.) US Department of Agriculture, archived from the original on November 20, 2010 ; Retrieved June 3, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.aphis.usda.gov
  6. ↑ Michael T. Henshaw, Nicole Kunzmann, Cas Vanderwoude, Matthias Sanetra, Ross H Crozier: Population genetics and history of the introduced fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Australia. In: Australian Journal of Entomology 44, No. 1, 2005, pp. 37-44, doi: 10.1111 / j.1440-6055.2005.00421.x .
  7. ↑ C. Anderson, G. Theraulaz, J.-L. Deneubourg: Self-assemblages in insect societies. In: Insectes Sociaux , Vol. 49, No. 2, May 2002, pp. 99-110.
  8. ↑ Hölldobler and Wilson : The Ants . Springer (1990) ISBN 3-540-52092-9

literature

Web links

Commons : Fire Ants  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
  • AntWeb pictures of different Solenopsis species