scholarly journals Fire Ants (Solenopsisspp.) and Their Natural Enemies in Southern South America

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Briano ◽  
Luis Calcaterra ◽  
Laura Varone

We review the fire ant research conducted by the ARS-South American Biological Control Laboratory (SABCL) since 1987 to find a complex of natural enemies in southern South America and evaluate their specificity and suitability for field release as self-sustaining biological control agents. We also include those studies conducted by the ARS-Center for Medical, Agriculture, and Veterinary Entomology in the United States with the SABCL collaboration. Ecological and biological information is reported on local fire ants and their microsporidia, nematodes, viruses, phorid flies, eucharitid wasps, strepsiptera, and parasitic ants. Their biology, abundance, distribution, detrimental effect, field persistence, specificity, and phenology are discussed. We conclude that the objectives of the ARS program in South America are being achieved and that the pioneering studies have served to encourage further investigations in the United States and other countries and advanced the implementation of biological control programs to decrease imported fire ant densities and damage. Still, several promising organisms should be further investigated for eventual field release in the near future.

Author(s):  
Patricia J. Vittum

This chapter explores the many species of ants, order Hymenoptera, family Formicidae, which invade turfgrass areas throughout the United States. The subfamily Formicinae includes many ants found on turf. The fire ants are by far the most important and common pest ants of turfgrass in the southeastern states. Ants are primarily troublesome in turfgrass areas because they build mounds as they form subterranean homes for their colonies. They seek out drier, well-drained sandy soils that have low water-holding capacity. The galleries they form, which damage roots, add to the desiccation of the soil, and the turf in the surrounding areas becomes thin and unsightly. Mounds of various sizes and shapes, formed according to the habits of the ant species, are often detrimental to mower blades. The chapter then looks at the red imported fire ant, the turfgrass ant, and the harvester ant.


Nature ◽  
1940 ◽  
Vol 146 (3694) ◽  
pp. 238-239
Author(s):  
COLONEL LAWRENCE MARTIN

Author(s):  
James Lockhart

This chapter assesses Chile's emergence as a modern nation in the early nineteenth century. It describes its evolution into an influential power in southern South America, aligned with liberals in Latin America, the United States, and Europe in at the end of that century. It introduces Chileans as internationalists involved in the construction of modern Latin America and the inter-American and transatlantic communities.


EDIS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haleigh Ray ◽  
Jennifer Lynn Gillett-Kaufman

The Brazilian red-eyed fly, Ormia depleta, is a tachinid fly that is a parasitoid of mole crickets in the genus Neoscapteriscus (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae). Originally from South America, it was brought to the United States for biological control of pest mole crickets. It is now established in almost all counties in central and southern Florida. Includes: Introduction - Distribution - Description - Life Cycle - Pest Management - Selected References. Available on EDIS at https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in1219 First published at http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/BENEFICIAL/FLIES/Ormia_depleta.html


2004 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Seagraves ◽  
Robert M. McPherson ◽  
John R. Ruberson

The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, reportedly contributes to the biological control of key soybean pests. However, S. invicta may negatively affect ground-dwelling natural enemies such as ground beetles and earwigs. Information on the interactions between natural enemies is important for anticipating the success of biological control in agroecosystems with multiple interacting entomophagous species. Ground arthropods were monitored in soybean using pitfall traps in the 2000 and 2001 growing seasons to determine their response to selected fire ant controls. Three treatments were examined: an untreated check, Amdro™ (hydramethylnon) bait (ant-specific), and Lorsban™ (chlorpyriphos) (broad spectrum) plus Amdro. Fire ant captures in pitfall traps were lower in the Amdro and in the Amdro plus Lorsban treatments compared to the untreated control. Reduced fire ant density plus chemical treatment impacted the abundance of certain ground predators. Spiders, primarily Lycosidae, were significantly more abundant in the untreated control plots on some sampling dates; whereas, the earwig Labidura riparia Pallas was more abundant in the Lorsban and Amdro plots, presumably due to the removal of fire ants and other natural enemies. Ground beetles (Carabidae) were not different between treatments on any sampling dates. This study supports the assumption that spiders are compatible with fire ants as natural enemies and that earwigs are not compatible with fire ants. Numbers of lesser cornstalk borer, Elasmopalpus lignosellus Zeller, were not affected by the suppression of fire ant predation or the chemical treatments in 2000, the only year when they were captured. Crickets (Gryllidae), mole crickets (Gryllotalpridae), click beetles (Elateridae), scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae), and false darkling beetles (Melandryidae) also were not different between the fire ant suppression treatments.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 73 (5) ◽  
pp. 689-692
Author(s):  
Charles M. Ginsburg

Fire ants (Solenopsis richteri and Solenopsis invicta) have received scant attention from individuals other than agriculturists, entomologists, and victims of the bite and sting. Since their original importation into Mobile, Alabama, these small, seemingly benign, creatures have slowly migrated throughout most of the southern United States. Not unexpectedly, physicians working in the southern portions of the United States have been confronted with increasingly large numbers of patients, particularly children, who have been bitten and envenomated by these insects. Information regarding the pathogenesis of fire ant bite reactions and an approach to treatment are provided.


Weed Science ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 490-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Goeden ◽  
L. A. Andres ◽  
T. E. Freeman ◽  
P. Harris ◽  
R. L. Pienkowski ◽  
...  

Weed species or genera previously and currently targeted for biological control with phytophagous insects or phytopathogens in the United States (including Hawaii) and Canada are listed. The current status of and natural enemies involved in national, federal, state, and university biological control projects are reported.


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