Argentine Ant - Wikimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nYesterday we discussed a creature that loves to eat ants and I found out that some of our readers tend to have ant problems. Therefore, I thought I would write a post on the Argentine Ant.\u00a0 Something tells me that by the time you are done reading this post you will be happy with the regular ants around your home but they might not be there for long so enjoy them!!<\/p>\n
The Argentine Ant is a dark colour ant which is native to parts of South America; however, humans have caused this ant to invade other parts of the world such as Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Europe and the United States among other countries.\u00a0 Readers living in Southern California may be aware for these ants since their invasion was making headlines in 2007. These ants are listed in the Top 100 Invaders list which identifies some of the Worlds most problematic invasive species.<\/p>\n
So how can this tiny little ant cause so much trouble? We need to remember that animals are linked by the food chain so even a tiny ant can disrupt the food web and cause havoc on the ecosystem.\u00a0 When the Argentine ant is introduced in a new area they will often displace most of the native ants. An ant is an ant so what is the big deal, right? Well, this isn’t exactly true.\u00a0 See some native plants may depend on those local ants to disperse their seed.\u00a0 Naturally, if those ants disappear then the plants will be in jeopardy. Still not convinced, well in Southern California the population of the horned lizard is decreasing since they feed on native ants which were eradicated by the Argentine “bully” ants. This would be like us having our favourite pizza joint turn into a brussel sprout stand.\u00a0 I know I would end up starving!<\/p>\n
Amazingly enough these ants are so successful because of team work. Different colonies of Argentine ants which are not related will still work together to find food and survive.\u00a0 The ants between colonies will co-mingle like one big happy family. Normal ants will attack other colonies instead of trying to make allies.\u00a0 Perhaps, these other ants need to smarten up and work together to win the battle of the ants.\u00a0 Battle of the Ants!\u00a0 It sounds like a reality show on Fox.<\/p>\n
Argentine Ants Fast Fact: <\/strong>Research published in 2009 has determined that Argentine ants from the three “supercolonies” in America, Europe and Japan are actually all genetically related.\u00a0 Just imagine what that family reunion would be like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yesterday we discussed a creature that loves to eat ants and I found out that some of our readers tend to have ant problems. Therefore, I thought I would write a post on the Argentine Ant.\u00a0 Something tells me that by the time you are done reading this post you will be happy with the regular ants around your home but they might not be there for long so enjoy them!! The Argentine Ant is a dark colour ant which is native to parts of South America; however, humans have caused this ant to invade other parts of the world <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,4024],"tags":[348,4029,4028,454,68,453,4025],"yoast_head":"\n
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