Tuesday, July 20

Electric Ant





I was reminded of all the warning signs in Australia, wondering what an electric ant was. Was it an ant that lived behind electric switchplates?



From Wikipedia:
The electric ant, also known as the little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata, is a tiny (appprox 1.5 mm long), light to golden brown (ginger) social ant native to Central and South America, now spread to parts of Africa (including Gabon and Cameroon), North America, Israel, and six Pacific Island groups (including the Galápagos Islands, Hawaii, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands) plus north-eastern Australia.
The name, electric ant (or little fire ant) derives from the ant's painful sting. This ant's impact in those environments and countries outside of its place of origin has been described as follows:
Wasmannia auropunctata .. is blamed for reducing species diversity, reducing overall abundance of flying and tree-dwelling insects, and eliminating arachnid populations. It is also known for its painful stings. On the Galapagos, it eats the hatchlings of tortoises and attacks the eyes and cloacae of the adult tortoises. It is considered to be perhaps the greatest ant species threat in the Pacific region.

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