Fire ant life cycle

Fire ants are stinging ants.

Fire ant order

Red ant family

Fire ant habitat

Why are fire ants bad

Fire ant size

They are also called ginger ants and tropical fire ants.^[1] They evolved in South America, but have become a major pest in North America. They are known for a painful sting. This sting uses a base, not an acid.

Invasion

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In 1918, fire ants were accidentally moved into the United States of America by a ship from South America.^[2] They were moved in large amounts of dirt.

The ships brought heavy things like machines from the US to South America. They brought back light things like crops.

Red imported fire ant scientific name

The dirt was ballast make the ships more stable. The dirt sometimes had fire ants in it.

In the United States, fire ants have no natural predators or competitors. They became an invasive species. Native animals are not adapted to these ants.

Fire ants are very aggressive.

Why are fire ants bad

Their colonies can have many queens unlike many other ant species. Because of this, fire ants have spread very fast. By 1965, fire ant m