Red fire ants

In the world there are only a few dangerous species of ants that can pose a threat to human life. One of them is fiery red ants, which are called killers for good reason, because if you are bitten by any animal or person, their poison can cause burning pain and a strong allergic reaction, which can later lead to death.

The story of red ants

Only 100 years ago, fire ants lived only in Brazil, while by chance in the 1930s they were not delivered by merchant ships to one of the ports of Alabama, USA. Once in a favorable climate for them, without encountering any opposition from the local fauna, ants began to multiply rapidly, gradually mastering the territory of all the southern states of North America and Mexico.

Already in 2001, again with the help of maritime trade, they got to Australia, New Zealand, then to China, the Philippines and the smaller Pacific islands.

On a note!

Many countries are studying this type of insect, conducting research, developing methods for their destruction, as well as methods of treating people and animals from their bites. The total loss of the United States amounts to $ 5 billion annually, which is spent on medical care for injured people and animals, on chemical means for their destruction.

In the process of developing a new territory, fire ants harm not only people and pets, they crowd out and kill their brothers of local varieties, they can attack the nests of crocodiles, turtles and birds, which are not high above the ground.

Description of the type and features

The fire ant has a very small size: females are 2-4 mm red-brown in color, males are darker, almost black. The photo of a red ant shows that its body consists of a head with jaws, a calf, 6 strong legs, a set of whiskers and a sting, which is hidden in the abdomen.

Red fire ants

Between several nests, ants build multimeter underground tunnels, which they can cross and encounter in the fights when they meet with neighboring "warriors".

Interesting!

Unusual fact about ants concerns their ingenuity and ability to survive. Although life of ant colonies runs on the ground, but in their homeland often suffer from floods. To survive, the red ants were able to come up with such a means of escape as a living raft from their own bodies, held together with powerful jaws. Such a structure can swim for several weeks.

When biting an ant uses a sting and injects poisonous solenopsin, belonging to the class of alkaloids, to several points. It causes a burning pain, it feels like a burn from a fire, for which he gave this name to an insect. Affected people often develop an allergic reaction, accompanied by edema, vomiting, dizziness, anaphylactic shock and even death. In place ant bite blisters appear, after the healing of which scars often remain.

Nutrition and reproduction

Plant and animal food is what red ants eat and what feeds the population of the colony. These are grasses, young shoots of shrubs, various insects and their larvae, caterpillars, as well as small animals: mice, frogs, lizards and snakes, bird eggs, carrion and animal carcasses.

During the hunt the ants act together. Attacking the victim, they inject a dose of poison into it, which causes severe burning and pain, so that it can be easily eaten or dragged into its dwelling to feed the growing larvae.

Red ant habitat

• the laying of the uterus eggs, and for their lives 1 female gives birth to up to 250 thousand pieces;
• emergence of a larva from the egg, similar to a small worm, which is fed by the working population of the colony;
• pupation;
• becoming an adult insect.

On a note!

Breeding methods fire ants are of interest to scientists: some males and females can clone themselves to increase the number of working individuals.

Human behavior when bitten by a fire ant

According to statistics, every year, 30-35 people die in the world due to the bites of these insects, in which their highly toxic poison causes a serious health condition, which justifies their status ant killers. Therefore, everyone needs to know how to introduce himself if he was accidentally bitten by a red fire ant:

• if you feel an insect bite, you need to immediately move away from the habitat of these monsters, being careful;
• the insect must be carefully removed from the skin or clothing, shake will not work;
  

  Important!

  In no case can not push such ants, because the corpse begins to smell, signaling the danger of other residents of a nearby colony, calling for help.

• release the bitten area of ​​skin from clothes and rinse with cold water, it is better to put a cooling compress;
• apply an antibiotic ointment to the site of the bite to prevent infection by infection;
• Be sure to take pills for allergies, then urgently seek medical help from doctors.

Red ant bite

Ants harm and ways to fight

Although fiery predators do some good by eating pests of cereals, legumes, rice plants and reeds, they are more likely to cause trouble.

Settling in a certain area, the ant colony brings a lot of harm to the surrounding nature and agriculture:

• inflicts painful bites on wild and domestic animals, from which farmers and owners themselves suffer;
• feed on plants from agricultural landings;
• eat grain stocks on farms;
• damage to buildings;
• arranging anthills on the way work combines and mowers, interfere with normal operation.

Over the past decades, American scientists have used many methods and techniques for the destruction of red fire ants.At first they tried to poison the pests with pesticides by spraying them from helicopters. Then this method was found harmful to the surrounding insects and animals.

In the fight against the “fiery invasion”, they used the methods of digging nests, pouring them with boiling water and liquid nitrogen, but in such a situation the uterus learned to crawl deep into the ground and wait there for all the troubles, in order to crawl and lay eggs later, to ensure the former growth of the ant population.

The most original method of struggle was the breeding of humpback flies, which used ants to grow their offspring. The humpback lays its egg directly on the ant, and the hatched larva, having immobilized its breadwinner with the help of a paralyzing enzyme, gradually feeds on it for almost 40 days.

But all this still does not bring positive results, and the resettlement of red fire ants around the world continues.