Ants - Beautiful and dangerous creatures [How Dangerous?]

The Fire Ant

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The fire ant is a specie of ant native to south America, a member of the genus Solenopsis in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Workers appear in different shapes and sizes, red colour and yellowish with a brown or black gaster, while male appear completely black. It’s Generic name Solenopsis invicta.

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Fire ants are group of aggressive species with painful sting, when a person accidentally steps into one of their mounds, they gather up the person’s leg attacking in a mass. They gather up and sting any sensed movement. Individuals sensitive to their venom could possibly die of allergic reaction (anaphylaxis). `Anaphylaxis is a serious allergic reaction that is rapid in onset and may cause death.` They live at streams, riverbanks, rivers, mangrove swamps and irrigation channels.

Colonies also dwell in open areas (especially sunny areas), picnic areas, playgrounds and parks.
Just like the bees, the workers are able to live for few months while the queens can live for years, the two important societies are the polygynous colonies and the monogynous colonies. The polygynous colonies are colonies with more than one queen while the monogynous colonies have one queen.

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The fire ants have different type of behaivours, like building rafts when they sense rising of water levels. They prevent disease or infection from spreading throughout the colony by carrying dead bodies of members from nest. They are omnivores, they eat up dead mammals, insects, sweet substances like honeydew from insects that they have developed relationships with.

Importance of fire ants

Fire ants can be a threat in medical facilities since they have some possible territories in human environment.
They are also hosts for disease causing organisms, viruses and parasites that has been seen as potential biological control agents.

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In humans, aside painful sting other symptoms include chest pain, low blood pressure, slow speech, dizziness, nausea and loss of breath.

Treatment varies on symptoms, those that experience boil or swelling and pain do not require medical attention, those that suffer allergic reaction are to take epinephrine injection.

Nest can be built under structures as pavements and foundations, causing them to either cause structural problems or collapse structures. They damage equipment and infrastructure and land. Fire ants workers are attracted to electricity, they swarm up electricity and destroy it.

They damage agricultural machines and crops. They are known to enter wide varieties of crops making mounds which may prevent crop harvesting.

They cause threat to livestock and animals, they are capable of causing serious injury or killing livestock and animals and mostly sick or weak animals. They are beneficial to crops as they consume pest crops like insects.

Why do flying fire ants land in swimming pools or fish farms? This is because they are attracted to reflective surfaces of the water and can provide abundant food supply for fish, when consumed by fish the venom from multiple stings can combine to cause death.