Argentine Ant
Argentine Ant
Latin Name: Iridomyrmex humilis
Features: It is a tiny, dark-colored ant about 3 mm (1/8 inch) long that invades homes on the lookout for food and water..
Color: dark-colored
Other: It is in addition light to dark brown in color, and it has six legs, as with other insects. The Argentine ants' antennae have twelve segments. The thorax joins the stomach by a thin pedicel, a thin stalk.
Where can they be discovered? Outdoors in soil, under timber, slabs, debris, mulch, or in branches and cavities of trees and shrubs
Shallow, 1- to 2-inch deep mounds in open, often disturbed habitats, either moist or dry
The most commonplace ant in southern California is the Argentine ant (Iridomyrmex humilis). This ant can also be found in the low eastern US area. According to Wild (2004), this species was originally described in the genus Linepithema by Mayr in 1866; consequently, the right binomial should be Linepithema humile. It is a small, dark-colored ant about 3 mm (1/8 inch) long that invades homes searching for food and water. They are specifically like sweets, but will eat practically any food. They love hard boiled eggs and carry small yellow clumps of yolk back to their nest in endless ant columns.
These ants are really well adapted to urbanized areas of the United States with mild climates and well-watered gardens. They pose an important threat to native wildlife by upsetting breakable food webs. They are specifically formidable thanks to their aggressive behavior and the massive size of their colonies that can literally "team up" with other colonies.
If you live in southern California, you in all probability have seen endless single file columns of uninvited six-legged guests walking through your home. They follow a pre-marked pheromone "scent" trail initially laid down by scouts who were searching for goodies in your pantry. Although they choose to outdoor life-style, they primarily enter houses for food and water. They're fond of sweets, tuna, syrups (even cough syrup), juices, eggs, dead spiders and rodents, puke, feces and almost any other living tissue they can find. They are fundamentally scavengers and they play a valuable role in the natural ecosystem–but preferably in Argentina. In hot, dry weather they frequently search your house for water, including bathroom taps and drains. I once followed an ant safari into my bathroom where they were neatly stacking their precious cargo of tiny eggs inside my toilet tank. They also relish the "honeydew" secretion of aphids, and look after their aphid friends from natural predators. In the fall months as the nights get very cold, they once again seek the warmth and shelter of your cozy home.
The first Argentine ants set foot on U.S. soils in the late 1890's, as coffee ships from Brazil unloaded their cargo in New Orleans. Being prolific breeders and constantly busy, they moved across the southern half of the US. A single colony might incorporate 10,000 female workers, and there might be many colonies around your house; the entire amount of ants could reach a million. Although they cannot sting, they can bite; all the same, they are only about 3 mm long and there tiny mandibles are too small to hurt humans. But, internationally of insects, these ants are truly a living terror. They're very aggressive and readily overtake other ant species, even ants that are much larger and with powerful stings. Argentine ants are relentless and simply outnumber their adversaries until the enemy colony is destroyed. They even attack paper wasp nests under the eaves of a house, forcing the huge wasps to flee their nests in terror. Even nests of large carpenter bees are no match for these relentless ants. A "killer bee" nest probably could not withstand an encroachment in Argentine ants. They also will attack bird nests, driving off the mom bird and killing the helpless young. One possible redeeming quality about these little warriors is that they could attack dry- timber (aerial) termite colonies in your house. I have seen this Lilliputian massacre in a termite infested table in the Palomar College greenhouse.
Most ant colonies are very highly territorial, and will fight different colonies of the identical species. Since Argentine ants in the United States arose in the original colonizers in Louisiana, they are all closely associated with the same DNA. They evidently will accept ants from different colonies as guests of their gigantic family. In fact, Argentine ants from different colonies will in reality "team up" and attack together in vast swarms. They simply outnumber and overpower their enemy.
Argentine ants have become a serious threat to the coast horned lizard (Phrynosoma coronatum) in southern California. The main food source for these endangered lizards are native harvester ants, particularly the California harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex californicus). I spent many years observing this interesting red ant while aging in San Gabriel Valley, and I can personally testify that it provides a painful sting. As of 2006, this large red ant is seldom seen in urbanized areas of coastal southern California.
California harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex californicus), primary diet of coast horned lizard.
Urbanization has certainly been a aspect in the demise of California harvester ants, but an even greater factor leading to the elimination of native ants and coast horned lizards is the aggressive Argentine ant. Evidently the horned lizard is not fond of Argentine ants, and is in fact attacked by them in enormous swarms. Colonies of Argentine ants need a damp area to survive, and have not invaded some of the dry habitats where native harvester ants and desert horned lizards (P. platyrhinos) still live. Obviously, they can readily colonize urbanized desert areas inhabited by people. Well-watered gardens with stepping stones and concrete slabs provide the idea living requirements for these ants. In their native Argentina they live under rocks.
Coast horned lizard (Phrynosoma coronatum).
Argentine ants are a terrible nuisance in gardens and orchards because they tend and protect scale insects and aphids. They even carry aphids to the tender buds of your prized roses. In return, the ants consume a sweet secretion from the aphids called "honeydew." In addition, swarms of these ants will invade orchard trees, destroying the fruit crop. This is particularly serious in figs (Ficus carica) where the symbiotic pollinator wasps are destroyed.
Metallic green fig beetles (Cotinus texana) gorging themselves inside a fleshy, ripe syconium of the Calimyrna fig (Ficus carica). Although masses of minute, aggressive Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) are also foraging in the syconium (white arrow), the beetles are safe by their tough, impervious exoskeleton. These attractive beetles spend their juvenile larval stage in the land, often beneath manure piles, compost and haystacks.
As reported by entomologist David Faulkner, if you have a 10 x10 foot (3 x 3 m ) patio slab, you could have a million or more individuals and perhaps 20 or 30 queens. They interact fine because they're all linked with the original colonizers in Lousiana, perhaps from the original gravid (pregnant) female who arrived there. Workers live a month or more as adults, but queens live up to 10 years or longer. With other ants, when the queen dies, the one-queen colony dies because no more ants are being produced. With multi-queen Argentine ants, another queen simply moves in and takes over the role of the deceased queen. In point of fact, a queen from San Diego would in all likelihood be accepted in a colony elsewhere in California.
Argentine ants (Linepithema humile): A wingless queen and various workers. Although these ants are just 3 mm long, they're very aggressive and quickly annihilate other ant species, even larger ants with powerful jaws and stings. They overpower other species by their sheer numbers. Argentine ants in the U.S. are descendants of original colonizers that entered Louisiana in the late 1890's, as coffee ships from Brazil unloaded their freight in New Orleans. U.S. populations are so closely associated that different colonies with multiple queens can literally merge together into supercolonies. Image taken with Nikon D-90 and 60mm Micro Nikkor AF-S F/2.8G ED Macro Lens using a Phoenix Ring Flash; hand-held at 640 ISO, F-32, 1/125th sec.
In their native homeland of Argentina, different colonies of Argentine ants are not so friendly to one another because their DNA has developed much greater variation. Neighboring colonies may fight one another, even though they are simply 200 yards (200 m) apart. Also the're a great many native predators in Argentina, including fungal parasites and bacterium. The narrow genetic variability that has kept all the California populations on friendly terms may eventually backfire due to excessive inbreeding. Perhaps some day these ants might not have the genetic variability to adjust to a changing environment.
How To Control Invasions of Argentine Ants"
Empty your trash often and make certain your home is free of crums and food particles that may attract ants. Make sure that food containers are tightly closed, without residual traces of the food on the sides of containers. These ants can also get into screw-top jars without seals. They follow the spiral threads until they are inside!
Try not to use toxic aerosol insecticides inside your home–unless you don't care about your lungs or your bone marrow.
Try spraying a deodorant detergent (Pine Sol
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