Details
Solenopsis invicta
The red imported fire ant is a small aggressive ant that forms large colonies. It forages by day and uses both animal and plant-based foods.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
Native to the Neotropics and spread elsewhere, it occupies grassland, urban sites, and savanna. Sunny open soil is used for raised mounds.
Length 0.2-0.6 cm; weight 0.001 g-0.005 g. The small reddish-brown workers vary in size within a colony. A venomous sting at the abdomen tip causes painful stings.
Diurnal and colonial, it lives in nests with queens and many workers. Disturbed colonies pour out workers that defend the mound together.
An omnivore, it eats insects, carrion, seeds, and sugary secretions. Workers bring food back to support larvae and queens.
Winged new queens and males fly during reproductive events. After mating, a queen starts a new nest and produces workers.
It is listed as Least Concern, but in introduced areas it can strongly affect native insects, agriculture, and human activity.
