Red imported fire ant | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
Tribe: | Solenopsidini |
Genus: | Solenopsis |
Species: | S. invicta |
Binomial name | |
Solenopsis invicta Buren, 1972 |
In the 1930s, colonies were accidentally introduced into the United States through the seaport of Mobile, Alabama.[2] They were first identified in the Mobile area by the then 13 year-old E.O. Wilson.[3] Cargo ships from Brazil docking at Mobile unloaded goods infested with the ants. They have since spread from Alabama to almost every state of the American South, from Texas to Maryland. Since the 1990s, infestations have been reported in California in the West and New Mexico in the Southwest, but probably via ship or truck (rather than overland migration) in the case of California.[1]
In a similar way, the ants were accidentally introduced into Australia in 2001.
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