Simplified approaches to determine the attractant preference of Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

抄録

The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is an invasive species that has been introduced into the United States and more recently into several countries in the Asian-Pacific region. The foraging dynamics of this pest ant is important in understanding its interactions with native ant species and in devising the most effective toxic bait control methods. In this study the effect of worker density, size of the foraging area, the number of food lures, duration of experiments, and the effect of the queen on foraging activity were investigated under laboratory conditions. The results showed that of the four ant densities investigated (very small, small, medium and high) the medium ant density most consistently had more workers at the food lures than the other ant density situations. The percentage of worker ants at the food lures was negatively correlated with an increase in foraging territory size for all four worker ant densities. Significantly fewer foragers were observed in the foraging areas when a queen was present, then when the queen was absent. In addition, when number of food lures was increased from 1 to 12, the mean number of workers found at the lures was significantly higher when four food lures were present. Furthermore, the number of worker ants observed on the food lures increased for the first 2.5 h and then decreased with time. The study suggests that observations of foraging activity could be restricted to 2.5 h. These data lay the ground work for further studies in optimizing the effectiveness of fire ant bait toxicants.