'Crazy ants' invade the U.S. Southeast

By Hum
in Science News & Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

Hum

Posted
Posted

New research says Rasberry crazy ants are displacing established populations of fire ants all over the Gulf Coast

Aside from their nasty sting, fire ants are a relatively docile bunch. They'll leave you alone as long as you keep an eye out for their mounds. But a new, and possibly more treacherous threat is mounting in the form of invasive "crazy ants," which are beginning to displace fire ant populations from Texas all the way east to Florida, notes Douglas Main at LiveScience. Here's what you should know about America's newest pest menace:

Populations of the Rasberry crazy ant (Nylanderia fulva) originally started popping up in Houston back in 2002. Since then they've spread to all the states bordering the Gulf Coast. According to LiveScience's Main, the ants' "crazy" moniker was derived from their "quick, seemingly random movements." While the bugs do indeed sting, crazy ants' bites are less painful than those of fire ants. But that's not even the main problem...

Crazy ants, for reasons that are still unexplained, have a mysterious attraction to electrical equipment. They'll swarm a circuit and die of electrocution, giving off a chemical that, strangely, attracts more ants. The newly charred bodies pile up, causing the electronics to fizzle out shortly thereafter ? a big problem for places like airports.

Back in 2008, Scott Solomon at Slate noted that "some ant species are capable of detecting electromagnetic fields and may even use Earth's magnetic field as a directional cue." Crazy ants' unmitigated attraction to electronics may be an evolutionary side effect.

Crazy ants "go everywhere," says Edward LeBrun, a researcher at the University of Texas in Austin who led the study ? into your home, walls, underneath flower pots... anywhere. LeBrun and his team, publishing their findings in the journal Biological Invasions, found that wherever populations of crazy ants appeared, fire ant nests dwindled, unable to compete with the sheer numbers of crazy ants.

The stubborn ants themselves have no natural predators, which enables their colonies to balloon to 100 times the size of other local ant populations. Crazy ants also don't eat the normal pest control poisons used on fire ants, which means you'll have to call an exterminator to hopefully keep them in check.

more

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1153586-crazy-ants-invade-the-us-southeast/
Share on other sites
Grand Master

n_K

Posted
Posted

Funny this should be mentioned, we had something on tv 2 weeks ago or so about this. It made no mention of 'crazy ants' but said fire ants go for high voltage places and kill themselves, etc.

"They'll swarm a circuit and die of electrocution, giving off a chemical that, strangely, attracts more ants." it's known why they are attracted, because the other ants detect that they are under attack and swarm to that location to fight the invader, but being electricity they'll never win.

Veteran

siah1214

Posted
Posted

Funny this should be mentioned, we had something on tv 2 weeks ago or so about this. It made no mention of 'crazy ants' but said fire ants go for high voltage places and kill themselves, etc.

"They'll swarm a circuit and die of electrocution, giving off a chemical that, strangely, attracts more ants." it's known why they are attracted, because the other ants detect that they are under attack and swarm to that location to fight the invader, but being electricity they'll never win.

Sounds like an awesome plot for Antz 2.

  • 1 month later...
Grand Master

Hum

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Exterminator Mike Matthews got the call because the home's air-conditioning unit had short-circuited. Why an exterminator for a problem with an appliance? Because of the crazy ants.

Matthews has seen crazy ants disable scores of air-conditioning units near Austin, Texas, where the invasive creatures have been a real headache. The ants swarm inside the units, causing them to short-circuit and preventing them from turning on. Often the switches inside them need to be replaced, thanks to the ants, said Matthews, who works for the Austin-area pest control business The Bug Master.

"When you open these things up, you see thousands of the ants, just completely filling them up," Matthews said.

The ants first appeared in the United States in 2002 but have become more of a menace in the past few years, spreading to many areas of the Gulf Coast, particularly Texas and Florida. The ants are obnoxious because they reproduce in large numbers, sometimes outnumbering all other ants 100-to-1.

One reason is that crazy ants are always looking for cavities to nest in ? unlike most ants, they don't excavate their own holes and tunnels, beyond minimal expansion, LeBrun said. That is also the reason they move into people's houses, nesting in any area with protected holes and cavities, such as the insides of walls and in basements and crawlspaces. Their small size, less than an eighth of an inch in length, allows them to crawl inside cellphones, computers and appliances, which all are home to protected cavities and are "just great" for these ants, Le Brun said. Most commonly, they swarm inside sheds and pumps in rural areas, which has been a problem for industries in Texas and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, he added. When the crazy ants enter these devices their bodies can create connections between electrical contacts, which can lead the circuits to short out and electrocute the ants.

This causes them to release an alarm pheromone, a scent ants use to communicate that they are "under attack," likely attracting the ants' kin to come and fight, LeBrun said. This creates a vicious cycle that can leave appliances broken and full of dead (and angry) ants.

Their sheer abundance also adds to their destructive power. In one case, the ants quickly spread to 90 out of 150 air-conditioning units in an apartment building in Waco, Texas.

more

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • Limited Prime Day deal sees Amazon Echo Show 11 is at its lowest price yet

      By ad47uk · Posted

      I did think about a Echo show once and it would be useful to see what my cameras see. But my brother got one and I changed my mind. Adverts and not really worth the price just to see my cameras. I have a load of dots and a Echo Gen 4, they will do.
    • The Trump administration doesn't want you to use OpenAI's GPT-5.6 without its approval

      By ad47uk · Posted

      I asking where you are from or live, because if you don't live in the U.K, why are you so bothered? That is another reason I voted out, E.U and people poking their noses in where they should not be. Sadly we still have it, Trump, and his cronies. Putin as well and no doubt others. It makes no difference what we believe, if we made the right choice or not, we are out. As I said to someone when the news first broke we have voted out, we just need to make the best of it. I have no problems with closer ties to the E.U, we still need to trade. Just don't want to be in their club.
    • The Trump administration doesn't want you to use OpenAI's GPT-5.6 without its approval

      By ad47uk · Posted

      So you think I voted out because i am anti-immigrant. I am fed up with those that come over and think that we owe them something. The ones that are at the moment coming over from France where they are already in a safe country because they think and no doubt will get everything chucked at them. While people who were born and bred here get very little. I have nothing against as i have said before those that come here and work. In fact I know full well that our NHS would struggle without them. I do have a problem with those that come over here and try to push their religion and their way of life onto us. My reasons for voting out was because of what the E.U is and is also becoming. I did not agree with Freedom of movement, not because I don't want people over here, but because people need to be checked before being allowed to cross borders and that goes both ways. But my main thing was because the E.U is becoming if not already a united states of Europe. The only reason countries like Poland and Romania joined was because they had no money. When my partner left Poland, she had nothing, Poland had nothing, that is why she left. Wanted to learn something and earn a living. The E.U would have us back according to Michel Barnier. https://www.euronews.com/my-eu...ator-barnier-tells-euronews Why are you so scared to say what country you are in?
    • Windows 11 is getting redesigned taskbar settings in new build

      By thartist · Posted

      I wonder what that line really meant...
    • draw.io Desktop 30.2.6

      By Copernic · Posted

      draw.io Desktop 30.2.6 by Razvan Serea draw.io desktop is a downloadable security-first diagramming application that runs on Windows, MacOS and Linux. Creating diagrams in the desktop app doesn’t need an internet connection. This is useful when you are disconnected or when you must create diagrams in a highly secure environment, where data protection is of the utmost importance. When you use the draw.io desktop app, your diagrams will be stored on your local device. Because this is a stand-alone application, also designed to run offline, there are no interfaces to cloud storage platforms available. Of course, you can still store your diagrams in folders that are synchronised to your cloud storage if you wish. Easy-to-use diagram editor The draw.io apps work just like the office and drawing tools you are used to using. Drag and drop shapes from the shape libraries and drag to draw connectors between them. Drag connectors to add waypoints and set a precise shape and position, or let them reroute automatically. Double click and start typing to add a label to anything. Create tables and swimlane flows with a familiar tool. Style shapes and connectors with customisable palettes, sketch options, fonts and text formatting tools. Search for shapes, including in open-source icon libraries. Use our vast libraries of shapes and templates, organised into logical categories, to create a range of diagrams and infographics. Generate diagrams from text descriptions using our smart templates. Diagram faster with keyboard shortcuts. draw.io Desktop 30.2.6 changelog: Uses electron 42.5.0 #2452 Updates to draw.io core 30.2.6. Download: draw.io 64-bit | Standalone (Open Source) Download: draw.io 32-bit | ARM64 | ARM64 Standalone Links: draw.io Home Page | Project page @GitHub | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      Excellence2025 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Excellence2025 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Woland13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Woland13 earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      498
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      207
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      145
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      74
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      69
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!