Argentine ant
|
harms crops |
harms people |
harms wildlife |
lives in trees |
lives on ground |
day active |
| Size: 2-3 mm
Scientific name: Linepithema humile Colour: uniform dull brown General description: the Argentine ant is a small ant, which is smooth and shiny with no hairs. It forms well-defined trails to and from food sources. Workers look the same (monomorphic). Habitat and nesting: Argentine ants are typically ground dwelling and favour moist environments for nesting. Nests may be found under piles of wood, stones, under or amongst rubbish, under buildings, in potted plants or in piles of leaves or other organic debris. These ants mostly nest outside, but may move into houses or other buildings if their outdoor nests are disturbed. Rate of spread: 15-270 m/year in Northern California. Distribution: see our invasive ant distributions page for the worldwide distribution of the Argentine ant. Reproduction: Argentine ant colonies reproduce by budding. If the queens in the colony die, workers can cause eggs and larvae to become new queens. This feature makes eradication more complex. |
Argentine ant worker (© Alex Wild)
Argentine ant queen (bottom centre) and workers (© Phil Lester) |
Development: eggs hatch into larvae after 15-55 days (average 28 days). Larvae develop for 11-61 days (average 31 days) before becoming pupae. The pupae develop for 8-25 days (average 20 days), after which adults emerge. Development is quicker when temperatures are warmer.
For detailed descriptions and identification of Argentine ants please see:
PIAkey: Linepithema humile (see diagnostic characters tab)
Impacts of the Argentine ant
Social
Argentine ants are the only species among the worst 5 invasive ants that does not sting, spray acid on or bite people. However, this ant can be extremely annoying because it likes living indoors and can invade homes in huge numbers, contaminating any food that it can get into (which is essentially anything not in a sealed bag or tin).
Agricultural
Argentine ants tend sap-sucking insects, causing pest outbreaks and damaging crops.
Argentine ants also raid beehives, causing losses of up to 50% of the hives of some beekeepers!
Argentine ants tending mealybugs (© Phil Lester) |
Argentine ants foraging on a dead moth (© Phil Lester) |
Argentine ants swarming over honey comb (© Jess Russell) |
Environmental
Unlike many invasive ant species, which prefer areas of human disturbance, Argentine ants can easily spread into pristine areas where they do even more damage to native species.
Argentine ants interfere with pollination and seed dispersal of native plants. They also replace other ant species and have a negative effect on many native invertebrates.
Management
If you are interested in getting rid of Argentine ants, check out the treatment options for this species, or look at management programme case studies to see examples of other control programmes that target them.
Information sources
Abril, Oliveras, Gómez. 2010. Effect of temperature on the development and survival of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile. Journal of Insect Science 10:97. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
Animal Diversity Web, Argentine ants
Argentine ants in New Zealand website
Clemson University website, Argentine ants
Global Invasive Species Database, Argentine ant
Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS)
Holway, Lach, Suarez, Tsutsui and Case. 2002. The causes and consequences of ant invasions. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 33: 181-233
Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua Ant Factsheet, Argentine ant
Orkin website, Argentine ants
Russell, Brenton-Rule, Saunders, Lester. 2016. Argentine ant interactions with bees. unpublished data
Passera, Keller, Suzzoni. 1988. Queen replacement in dequeened colonies of the Argentine ant Iridomyrmex humilis (Mayr). Psyche. 95:59-65
Suarez, Holway, Case. 2001. Patterns of spread in biological invasions dominated by long-distance jump dispersal: insights from Argentine ants. PNAS 98(3): 1095-1100