RED IMPORTED FIRE ANT
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Solenopsidini
Genus: Solenopsis
Species: Solenopsis invicta
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Solenopsidini
Genus: Solenopsis
Species: Solenopsis invicta
Habitat
Mounds of soil are home to the fire ants. This is where their colonies reside just above the ground which is just a small part of the fire ant nest. The below ground portion of the colony can extend from 1-3 feet deep. These nests can have tunnels that can extend as deep as the water table for that area providing a source of moisture for the colony during dry and hot summer months. Nests also have foraging tunnels near the surface that may extend several feet from the actual mound. These tunnels are used to search and retrieve food. Ways of travel in these nest occur both vertically and horizontally to optimize access to favorable temperatures and humidity inside of the nest. As temperatures rise, the fire ants go deeper into the ground where it is cooler. Mounds are often not seen during the hot summer months, but mostly seen after the rainy season. As you can see in both pictures, that these mounds are created near man-made disturbing areas such as sidewalks, or areas of concrete for structural purposes.
Social Structure
Worker ants build the mound, care for the queen and broods (eggs, larvae and pupae), defend the colony, and forage for food. Functions differ within the colony and these functions are determined by the size and the needs of the colony by the ages of the worker ants. Below is a video of worker ants tending a brood. Nurse ants are the ones that take care of the queen and the brood by moving them wherever they need to go. Older workers serve to protect and defend the colony from predation, they also construct and maintain the mound to keep it functioning properly. Normal adult worker ants live around 60-90 days. In the summer, worker ants can live up to around 35 days while during the cooler parts of the year they can live up to months.
Life Cycle
Both winged males and females (called alates) fly hundreds of feet up into the air and mate in flight. These mating flights usually occur when temperatures are between 70-95 degrees F. After the mating has taken place, males go off to die. Once that female has been mated with she then lands, breaks off her wings, and searches for a place to establish and new colony, in which she is now queen. Not all queens make it though due to predation of such as lizards, dragonflies, and spiders. Queens that manage to survive dig small chambers in the soil, where they lay about 25 eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the queen feeds them from the energy of her digested wing muscles and cannibalized eggs.
Once the queen creates the colony, she never leaves the colony again. After about a month or two these developing ants emerge as tiny worker ants called minims. These ants are responsible for taking care of the queen at all costs. A fire ant queen can lay eggs that are both fertilized or unfertilized with sperm that she has stored in her body since the mating first occurred. Unfertilized eggs develop into winged male fire ants, while fertilized eggs develop into sterile female worker ants or into fertile winged females. A fire ant queen can live up to 7 years and produce as much as 1,000 eggs per day. Once a colony reaches maturation it can contain up to 400,000 sterile female worker ants.
Once the queen creates the colony, she never leaves the colony again. After about a month or two these developing ants emerge as tiny worker ants called minims. These ants are responsible for taking care of the queen at all costs. A fire ant queen can lay eggs that are both fertilized or unfertilized with sperm that she has stored in her body since the mating first occurred. Unfertilized eggs develop into winged male fire ants, while fertilized eggs develop into sterile female worker ants or into fertile winged females. A fire ant queen can live up to 7 years and produce as much as 1,000 eggs per day. Once a colony reaches maturation it can contain up to 400,000 sterile female worker ants.