Latest Breaking News
Showing Original Post only (View all)Invasion of Crazy Ants Maddening For Southern U.S. [View all]
Source: Nature World News
By James A. Foley May 17, 2013 11:10 AM EDT
A maddening invasion of "crazy ants" has people in Texas and other states in the South wishing for the old days of fire ant invasions.
Crazy ants get their name from their erratic behavior, darting in nonsensical zig-zags and straying far from colonies, getting into walls of homes and short-circuiting electrical equipment as they congregate en mass, sometimes causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Crazy ants are so invasive that in some areas they have become the ecologically dominant species of ant and arthropod, creating supercolonies that drive other, less crazy, ants out.
"When you talk to folks who live in the invaded areas, they tell you they want their fire ants back," said Ed LeBrun, a researcher at University of Texas, Austin. "Fire ants are in many ways very polite. They live in your yard. They form mounds and stay there, and they only interact with you if you step on their mound."
A maddening invasion of "crazy ants" has people in Texas and other states in the South wishing for the old days of fire ant invasions. (Photo : Joe MacGown, Mississippi Entomological Museum)
Read more: http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/1974/20130517/invasion-crazy-ants-madding-southern-u-s.htm
I admit it: I did it for the picture.
Insufficiently alarming? Then try this:
Unstoppable Crazy Ants Invade Southeast U.S.
by Michael dEstries May 17, 2013
Categories: Causes, Environment.
If the thought of meningitis-carrying, home-eating, giant land snails or mosquitoes the size of quarters isnt enough to make you reconsider leaving Florida perhaps a creature known as the crazy ant will help strengthen the argument.
As you would expect, crazy ants are an invasive species generally found in northern Argentina and southern Brazil, but unfortunately are now increasingly making their homes throughout the Southeastern United States.
Photo: Creative Commons
Next up: the cicadas. From 17 Years to Hatch an Invasion
A 13-year cicada in Chapel Hill, N.C., in 2011. This year's 17-year cicadas are beginning to appear.
Going too far: