Tropical Fire Ant or Ginger Ant
General Description
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April Nobile, www.antweb.org |
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Tropical fire ants come in a wide range of sizes – Credit: Eli Sarnat. |
Tropical fire ant majors have large, square heads – Credit: Eli Sarnat. |
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- Workers consist of many sizes (polymorphic) between 4 to 6 mm (average of 3 mm).
- Body color is usually red to brown in color with a black
- Antennae is 10 segmented with 2 segmented antennal
- Pedicle is 2
- A stinger is
- Female reproductive is 8 mm long and is similar in color to
- Males are black in
- Workers come in a wide range of sizes (polymorphic), the larger majors have very square heads.
Life Cycle and Common Characteristics
- A mature queen lays hundreds of eggs each day.
- Eggs hatch to grub-like larvae in 7-10 days and reach a pupal stage in the next 1-2 weeks.
- Pupae look like a curled adult and cannot move and in 1-2 weeks they acquire reddish brown pigmentation and turn into an adult.
- Multiple queen colonies have closer and more numerous mounds per acre of land.
- Worker ant activities are found in gardens with nests occurring both in lawns and in shaded patches of exposed soil beneath trees and ornamental plants.
- Peak worker activity coincides with the cooler hours of morning and afternoon.
- The queen in multiple queen colonies produces more eggs as compared to a single queen.
- When a mound is disturbed, ants emerge aggressively to bite and sting the intruder.
- After heavy rain, the colony may move to higher ground or inside homes to take refuge from saturated soil.
- The tropical fire ant does not build mounds, instead, dirt is spread widely around the nest entrance.
Damage and Economic & Medical Implications
- Tropical fire ants are omnivorous, opportunistic feeders and are found to feed on any plant or animal materials they
- Their primary diet is insects and other small vertebrates and acts as scavengers by feeding on
- Workers can damage plastic insulation on electrical wiring and are capable of damaging plastic irrigation pipes.
- It is known to inflict a painful sting and the sting causes a white pustule to form on the skin within 24
- The tropical fire ant is considered as the most notorious ant pest species. When the nest is disturbed the ant emerges aggressively to bite and sting the
