Invasive Ants
Ants are common in places where people live. Everyone has seen and at least has some casual experience with ants. In many warmer parts of the world ants are much more familiar to local people. They occur in greater abundance and are more often found in homes and other dwellings. Most tropical and subtropical areas also have one or a number of invasive ants, i.e., species of ants that are notable for their ability to become human pests.
For the South Pacific region, PIA Key is focused on invasive and introduced ants of the Pacific islands. It includes a key and excellent information about the species it covers. Many of the non-native ants in this region have also been transported to other parts of the world.
Invasive Ant Species
Invasive ant species are here divided, somewhat arbitrarily, into four sets:
- Highly Invasive
- Species that are essentially or actually world-wide in distribution.
- Invasive
- Species that are very wide spread across multiple regions, but are not world-wide.
- Limited invasive
- Species that occur at a limited number of sites outside their native range and often at low densities or with restricted distributions.
- Secretly invasive
- Species that occur outside their native range but in small numbers at low densities and often in non-disturbed habitats.
Note that these categories form a continuum and precise definitions of each are not possible. They are intended as a general guideline to group similar patterns only and should not be taken too seriously.
Highly Invasive
- Acromyrmex octospinosus
- Anoplolepis gracilipes
- Brachyponera chinensis
- Cardiocondyla mauritanica
- Cardiocondyla minutior
- Cardiocondyla obscurior
- Cardiocondyla wroughtonii
- Hypoponera punctatissima
- Hypoponera ragusai
- Lasius neglectus
- Linepithema humile
- Monomorium floricola
- Monomorium monomorium
- Monomorium pharaonis
- Nylanderia bourbonica
- Nylanderia vividula
- Ooceraea biroi
- Paratrechina longicornis
- Pheidole indica
- Pheidole megacephala
- Plagiolepis alluaudi
- Solenopsis geminata
- Solenopsis invicta
- Solenopsis papuana
- Solenopsis richteri
- Strumigenys emmae
- Strumigenys membranifera
- Tapinoma melanocephalum
- Technomyrmex albipes
- Technomyrmex difficilis
- Technomyrmex vitiensis
- Tetramorium bicarinatum
- Tetramorium lanuginosum
- Tetramorium simillimum
- Trichomyrmex destructor
- Wasmannia auropunctata
Invasive
- Anochetus sedilloti
- Aphaenogaster splendida
- Brachymyrmex cordemoyi
- Brachymyrmex heeri
- Brachymyrmex obscurior
- Brachymyrmex patagonicus
- Brachyponera sennaarensis
- Camponotus planatus
- Cardiocondyla emeryi
- Cardiocondyla itsukii
- Cardiocondyla kagutsuchi
- Cardiocondyla strigifrons
- Cardiocondyla tjibodana
- Cardiocondyla venustula
- Crematogaster obscurata
- Cyphomyrmex rimosus
- Erromyrma latinodis
- Formica paralugubris
- Hypoponera eduardi
- Hypoponera opaciceps
- Hypoponera opaciceps pampana
- Hypoponera opacior
- Lasius niger
- Lepisiota frauenfeldi
- Leptogenys falcigera
- Leptogenys maxillosa
- Linepithema iniquum
- Lioponera longitarsus
- Monomorium carbonarium
- Monomorium intrudens
- Monomorium liliuokalanii
- Monomorium sahlbergi
- Monomorium salomonis
- Monomorium subopacum
- Myrmica rubra
- Myrmica scabrinodis
- Nylanderia amia
- Nylanderia flavipes
- Nylanderia fulva
- Nylanderia guatemalensis
- Nylanderia jaegerskioeldi
- Nylanderia pubens
- Nylanderia steinheili
- Nylanderia vaga
- Odontomachus haematodus
- Odontomachus ruginodis
- Odontomachus simillimus
- Pheidole fervens
- Pheidole navigans
- Plagiolepis exigua
- Ponera swezeyi
- Poneracantha triangularis
- Pseudomyrmex gracilis
- Solenopsis globularia
- Solenopsis saevissima
- Strumigenys eggersi
- Strumigenys godeffroyi
- Strumigenys silvestrii
- Syllophopsis sechellensis
- Syllophopsis subcoeca
- Tapinoma darioi
- Tapinoma magnum
- Tapinoma simrothi
- Technomyrmex brunneus
- Technomyrmex pallipes
- Tetramorium caldarium
- Tetramorium immigrans
- Tetramorium insolens
- Tetramorium lucayanum
- Tetramorium pacificum
- Tetramorium tonganum
- Trichomyrmex mayri
Limited Invasive
- Adelomyrmex myops
- Amblyopone australis
- Anochetus emarginatus
- Anochetus mayri
- Anoplolepis steingroeveri gertrudae
- Aphaenogaster gemella
- Aphaenogaster senilis
- Brachymyrmex aphidicola
- Brachymyrmex australis
- Brachymyrmex minutus
- Brachymyrmex termitophilus
- Brachyponera luteipes
- Brachyponera obscurans
- Camponotus compressus
- Camponotus fabricator
- Camponotus hova
- Camponotus novogranadensis
- Camponotus pennsylvanicus
- Camponotus sericeus
- Camponotus sexguttatus
- Camponotus zonatus
- Cardiocondyla batesii
- Cardiocondyla fajumensis
- Cardiocondyla nigra
- Cataglyphis nodus
- Crematogaster inermis
- Crematogaster scutellaris
- Crematogaster sordidula
- Crematogaster subdentata
- Cryptopone testacea
- Cylindromyrmex whymperi
- Cyphomyrmex salvini
- Doleromyrma darwiniana
- Formica rufibarbis
- Hypoponera confinis
- Hypoponera elliptica
- Hypoponera zwaluwenburgi
- Iridomyrmex anceps
- Iridomyrmex minor
- Iridomyrmex suchieri
- Lasius alienus
- Lasius citrinus
- Lasius emarginatus
- Lasius grandis
- Lasius japonicus
- Lasius sakagamii
- Lepisiota canescens
- Lepisiota capensis
- Lepisiota frauenfeldi kantarensis
- Lepisiota spinisquama
- Lepisiota syriaca
- Leptogenys pavesii
- Mayriella abstinens
- Meranoplus minor
- Mesoponera testacea
- Messor capitatus
- Messor lusitanicus
- Messor minor
- Messor structor
- Monomorium andrei
- Monomorium atomum
- Monomorium bicolor
- Monomorium clavicorne
- Monomorium exiguum
- Monomorium fieldi
- Monomorium holothir
- Monomorium indicum
- Monomorium sydneyense
- Monomorium trageri
- Myrmecia brevinoda
- Myrmelachista ramulorum
- Myrmica kotokui
- Myrmica lobulicornis
- Myrmica specioides
- Nylanderia clandestina
- Nylanderia glabrior
- Nylanderia guatemalensis itinerans
- Nylanderia tasmaniensis
- Odontomachus bauri
- Odontomachus troglodytes
- Pachycondyla harpax
- Paraparatrechina minutula
- Parvaponera darwinii
- Pheidole bilimeki
- Pheidole flavens
- Pheidole lamellinoda
- Pheidole obscurithorax
- Pheidole pallidula
- Pheidole proxima
- Pheidole pubiventris
- Pheidole punctatissima
- Pheidole rugosula
- Pheidole vigilans
- Plagiolepis schmitzii
- Platythyrea parallela
- Platythyrea punctata
- Polyrhachis dives
- Ponera exotica
- Ponera leae
- Ponera loi
- Prionopelta antillana
- Prionopelta kraepelini
- Pseudomyrmex cubaensis
- Pseudomyrmex elongatus
- Rhytidoponera chalybaea
- Rhytidoponera mayri
- Rhytidoponera metallica
- Rhytidoponera victoriae
- Rogeria curvipubens
- Solenopsis abdita
- Solenopsis helena
- Solenopsis macdonaghi
- Solenopsis orbula
- Solenopsis picea
- Solenopsis terricola
- Solenopsis validiuscula
- Stigmatomma besucheti
- Stigmatomma emeryi
- Stigmatomma zwaluwenburgi
- Strumigenys gundlachi
- Strumigenys hexamera
- Strumigenys lanuginosa
- Strumigenys lewisi
- Strumigenys louisianae
- Strumigenys ludovici
- Strumigenys margaritae
- Strumigenys maxillaris
- Strumigenys nepalensis
- Strumigenys nigrescens
- Strumigenys perplexa
- Strumigenys simoni
- Strumigenys xenos
- Syllophopsis australica
- Syllophopsis cryptobia
- Tapinoma nigerrimum
- Tapinoma sessile
- Technomyrmex jocosus
- Technomyrmex kraepelini
- Technomyrmex vexatus
- Temnothorax longispinosus
- Temnothorax unifasciatus
- Tetramorium delagoense
- Tetramorium grassii
- Tetramorium impurum
- Tetramorium kraepelini
- Tetramorium pauper
- Tetramorium semilaeve
- Tetramorium sericeiventre
- Tetramorium smithi
- Tetramorium tsushimae
- Tetraponera allaborans
- Tetraponera rufonigra
- Trichomyrmex robustior
- Vollenhovia nipponica
- Vollenhovia oblonga alluaudi
Secretly Invasive
Supercoloniality
A combination of life history traits are seemingly playing a part in how a few invasive ants are able to dominate some areas where they are introduced. Supercoloniality is achieved/defined as a species having many nests, many queens, workers that are able to freely move between nests that can be many kilometres from their own, and this occurs across a large area with the ants achieving very high local abundance. Supercoloniality has been observed in numerous ant species that are invasive pests.
Recent Findings
Talaga et al. (2015) - Tank bromeliads, frequently associated with ants, are considered ‘biodiversity amplifiers’ for both aquatic and terrestrial organisms, and thus have a high ecological value. The focal species of this study, Aechmeaaquilega, sheltered the colonies of 12 ant species in a Guianese rural habitat where Odontomachus haematodus, associated with 60% of these plants, was the most frequent. Unexpectedly, the ant species richness was higher in a compared urban habitat with 21 species, but two synanthropic and four invasive ants were noted among them. Consequently, we conducted baiting surveys (on the ground, on trees and on trees bearing A. aquilega) as well as complementary surveys using different sampling modes in urban areas to test if A. aquilega is a surrogate revealing the presence of certain invasive ants. During the bait-ing survey, we recorded four Neotropical and eight introduced invasive ants out of a total of 69 species. Of these 12 invasive species, five were noted by baiting A. aquilega (including two only noted in this way). A bootstrap simulation permitted us to conclude that A. aquilega significantly concentrates certain species of invasive ants. This was confirmed by complementary surveys, where we did not record further species. We conclude that baiting on trees bearing large epiphytes in human-modified, Neotropical areas is a relevant complement to the early detection of invasive ants.
Phillips et al. (2018) - Pest risk analysts frequently ask if the climate of a pest risk analysis area could be suitable for the establishment of an organism of concern. Species distribution models can help to answer this question, but constructing them is technically complex, time consuming, and uninformative for additional non-modelled species. A quicker more broadly applicable approach involves using environmental distance metrics, including climate matching algorithms such as the 'match climates regional' function of CLIMEX (CLIMEX-MCR), to generate indices of climatic similarity between different locations without reference to particular species. Several studies have shown that various environmental distance metrics can provide biologically meaningful results. However, the veracity of the CLIMEX-MCR algorithm remains unevaluated, despite its application in numerous published studies. We used CLIMEX-MCR and high resolution New Zealand climate data to measure climatic similarities between New Zealand and the rest of the world. We then tested the veracity of the climatic match estimates by evaluating if their predictions regarding the suitability of New Zealand's climate for 43 non-native ant species corresponded with empirical observations of those species in New Zealand. Non-native ants that are, or were once, established outdoors in New Zealand had overseas distributions that were climatically well matched with New Zealand. In contrast, species that either are established only indoors in New Zealand, or were observed to temporarily nest outdoors then die in New Zealand, had overseas distributions that were poorly matched. Species that are frequently intercepted at New Zealand's border, but are not established there, generally also had overseas distributions with low climatic similarities to New Zealand. We also measured climatic similarities between New Zealand's 13 national parks and the rest of the world. The overseas distributions of the non-native ants showed poor climatic matches with New Zealand's national parks, which was consistent with the absence of persistent outdoor non-native ant populations in those parks. Our results support the utility of CLIMEX-MCR algorithm for pest risk analysis. A recent paper by Krapf et al. 2018 examined how unicoloniality may be maintained in the ant, Tetramorium alpestre. This species is known to occur in at least one supercolonial population.
References
- Majer, J.D., Heterick, B.E. 2015. Invasive ants on the Australian mainland - the other 24 species. XXII Simposio de Mirmecologia, Ilheus, Bahia, Brasil.
- Phillips, C.B., Kean, J.M., Vink, C.J., Berry, J.A. 2018. Utility of the CLIMEX 'match climates regional' algorithm for pest risk analysis: an evaluation with non-native ants in New Zealand. Biological Invasions 20: 777-791 (doi:10.1007/s10530-017-1574-2 10.1007/s10530-017-1574-2).
- Talaga, S., Delabie, J.H.C., Dezerald,, O., Salas-Lopez, A., Petitclerca, F., Leroy, C., Heraultd, B., Cereghino, R., Dejean, A. 2015. A bromeliad species reveals invasive ant presence in urban areas of French Guiana. Ecological Indicators 58: 1-7 (doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.05.027 10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.05.027).
- Wong, M.K.L., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B. 2023. The global spread and invasion capacities of alien ants. Current Biology 33: 1-6 (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.020).
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