“Experts have sounded the alarm after discovering that two species of invasive fire ant have crossbred, creating a dangerous new hybrid,” notes Daniel Gala. “Since arriving in Mobile, Alabama, from South America by boat in the early 1900s, both red and black fire ants have spread across the southeast United States, wreaking havoc along the way.”
Red fire ants can inflict painful stings on farm workers, and kill newborn livestock and poultry, notes the Center for Invasive Species Research. In 2003, fire ants killed a 3 month old baby in Phoenix.
“Foraging ants can clog irrigation lines and short-circuit electrical systems. In natural ecosystems, they may interfere with and displace native wildlife,” the Center says. “Young birds in nests and lizards can be especially vulnerable.”
As Gala notes, “The invasive ants also boast a remarkable ability to spread, whether by people unwittingly transporting entire colonies in agricultural materials or even by linking together to float on water. Previously, cold weather had been slowing red fire ants’ northward spread, but as global temperatures rise, they have continued to expand into new areas….The ants even appeared to be altering their behavior, acclimating to the colder temperatures of higher elevations and northern latitudes.”
“Right now, it just seems they are very adaptable, and that includes moving their nests further underground … to some degree outsmarting the environment,” notes a staffer of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
“Black fire ants, while less aggressive than their red cousins, are hardier and better able to withstand cold temperatures,” which is what worries “experts most about the newly discovered hybrid. These hybrid fire ants have been leading the push into higher elevations and more northern regions,” says Scotty Yang of Virginia Tech, making them “the dominant species of fire ant in the higher-elevation regions of states as far north as Virginia.”
Meanwhile, a “destructive species of ant is spreading through Germany faster than expected, with scientists warning that the proliferation of insects may be unstoppable,” reports The Times. The species
was once confined largely to the warmer climates of the Mediterranean area…Lately, it has been settling in Germany’s southwest and Rhineland areas. The insects first wreaked havoc in places such as Kehl, near the French border. The city reported damage to public infrastructure, and cuts to power and the internet, caused by the ants….the species is spreading rapidly throughout Germany…Reports of the ants come from new places every week…The ants penetrate cavities in buildings and infiltrate electrical boxes, using cables to move into the spaces, which caused the power cuts in Kehl. In Karlsruhe, the city’s suburban railway is struggling with loose pavements near the platforms, undermined by ant colonies.
In Marlen, a suburb of Kehl, a children’s playground had to be closed after the ground began to buckle under the sheer number of ants tunnelling beneath it…the animals settle in private gardens, where they leave bite marks on their hosts’ limbs, invade their homes and lead to a proliferation of plant lice, whose manure serves as nutrition for the ants.
“Some people don’t even dare to go on holiday any more as they fear that the ants will move into their home in their absence.”…Biologists warn that the species’ spread may be unstoppable in their new habitat, lacking the natural enemies of their previous environments.
