Fire Ant

Life Cycle

• After swarming from the nest and mating, the queen searches for a suitable spot to lay her eggs. Once found, she can lay up to 125 eggs in late spring.
• Larvae hatch within 8 to 10 days, and the pupal stage lasts from 9 to 16 days.
• Larvae feed on secretions from the queen’s salivary glands and broken-down wing muscles until the first worker ants emerge. After the first batch of larvae moult into workers, the queen’s role returns to egg laying – she can lay up to 1,500 eggs per day. Worker ants continue with larval care, nest building and food foraging.
• Fertile males are produced later in the season.

Habits

• The diet of foraging workers consists of dead animals, including insects, earthworms, and vertebrates. Workers also collect honeydew and forage for sweet food, proteins and fats.
• Swarming characteristics – mating between queens and fertile males takes place on the wing in mid to late summer. Males perish after mating.
• A nest mound can be up to 40 cm in height; it usually resides next to objects on the ground, e.g. logs.
• If aggravated, Fire Ants react aggressively and can inflict a painful sting, resulting in a pustule some 48 hours later.
• These ants are a major agricultural and urban pest, destroying crops and invading residential areas (both outdoors and indoors).