Electric ant facts for kids

The electric ant (Wasmannia auropunctata), also called the little fire ant, is a tiny ant, about 1.5 mm long. It is light to golden brown. These ants are social, meaning they live in large groups with a queen, workers, and males.

Electric ants come from Central and South America. But now, they have spread to many other places. You can find them in parts of Africa, North America, Puerto Rico, Israel, Cuba, and several Pacific Islands. This includes famous places like the Galápagos Islands and Hawaii. They are also in northeastern Australia.

The name "electric ant" comes from its sting. Even though the ant is small, its sting feels very painful, like an electric shock. When these ants spread to new places, they can cause big problems. They are known to harm other insect species and spider populations. On the Galápagos Islands, they even attack baby tortoises and adult tortoises' eyes. Many people think they are one of the biggest ant threats in the Pacific region.

What Do Electric Ants Look Like?

Electric ant workers are all about the same size and shape. They are usually small, from 1 to 2 mm long. Their color is light to golden brown. The back part of their body, called the gaster, is often darker.

These ants have two body parts between their main body and the gaster. Their antennae have 11 parts, with the last two parts being much bigger, like a club. They also have sharp spines on their middle body section (thorax). Their bodies have long, standing-up hairs.

W. auropunctata biting a human.

How Do Electric Ants Reproduce?

Electric ant queens have a special way of reproducing. They can make more queens without needing a male. This is called parthenogenesis, or "virgin birth."

Worker ants are usually born from eggs that are fertilized by males. But sometimes, when a male fertilizes an egg, the female's genetic material is removed. This means the male passes on only his genes to create new male ants. This is very unusual! It's one of the first times scientists have seen an animal where both females and males can reproduce by themselves. This means the genes of males and females can stay completely separate.

This special reproduction method gives these ants some advantages. The queens, who lay eggs, get all their mother's genes. This helps them pass on good traits. But the worker ants, who need to be strong and resist diseases, are made through regular sexual reproduction. This gives them a mix of genes, which can be helpful for survival.

Automixis Explained Simply

Parthenogenesis is when an embryo grows without fertilization. A specific type of parthenogenesis, called thelytoky, is when a female develops from an unfertilized egg. Automixis is a kind of thelytoky. In this process, two half-sets of genes from the same egg combine to form a full set.

Electric ant queens that reproduce clonally (making copies of themselves) use automixis. This helps them keep a mix of different genes in their offspring. These same queens can also produce eggs that are fertilized by males. These fertilized eggs then grow into worker ants.

The eggs that reproduce through automixis have much less genetic mixing (recombination) than eggs that are fertilized by males. This low mixing helps the queens keep their genetic variety. It also helps them avoid problems that can happen from too much inbreeding.

Parthenogenesis is often seen in places that have been recently changed, like after floods or fires. Electric ant populations that reproduce clonally are mostly found in areas changed by humans.

Where Do Electric Ants Live and What Do They Eat?

Electric ants naturally live in most parts of South and Central America, except for very cold areas. They can live in many different places, especially those changed by humans in warm regions. This includes forest edges, managed forests, and farms.

These ants eat many things. They consume other insects, dead plants, seeds, and even live plants. They also love honeydew, a sweet liquid made by other insects like aphids. Electric ants are good hunters. Their venomous sting can overpower large insects and even small animals.

Electric ants build their nests under rocks and dead leaves. They can also be a problem in homes, making nests in furniture, food, and clothes. Their colonies might move around a lot after heavy rain.

Why Are Electric Ants a Problem?

Electric ants have accidentally traveled from their home regions to many new places. They cannot survive in very cold climates. However, they have been found in Canada and England, where they live in warm places like large buildings and greenhouses.

Human activities like monoculture (growing only one type of crop) and deforestation (cutting down forests) have caused a huge increase in electric ant populations. For example, in Brazil and Colombia, there are many electric ants in cocoa and sugarcane farms. In Colombia, studies show that many electric ants reduce the number of other ant species in deforested areas.

Electric ants hunt native insects, causing their numbers to drop. They can also attack small to medium-sized animals if their nests are disturbed. In both their native and new homes, electric ants reduce the variety of other ants. They are better at finding food and shelter, like honeydew and places to hide in plants, which helps them win against other ant species.

Pets like cats and dogs can become blind if stung around their eyes by these ants. On the Galápagos Islands, the electric ant is seen as one of the most aggressive species brought there. They have caused a drop in tortoise numbers by eating baby tortoises and attacking adult tortoises' eyes. They are also responsible for fewer scorpions, spiders, and native ants.

When humans are stung, the electric ant's sting is very painful for its size. It can cause itchy, painful welts about an inch long. Farmers in areas with many electric ants might find it hard to harvest their crops.

Research also shows that these ants can take nutrients from farm plants. This makes the plants more likely to get diseases or be attacked by other pests. When electric ants are in farm fields, crop yields go down, which hurts the economy.

How Can We Control Electric Ants?

People are trying different ways to control or get rid of electric ants. The Pacific Ant Prevention Program works to stop invasive ants, including the electric ant, from spreading in Pacific islands like Hawaii. This program aims to improve checks on plants being moved between islands and teach people about the dangers of the electric ant. In 1999, Hawaii started checking all plants leaving the state to make sure no ants were hiding.

Better farm management can also help. Reducing monocultures and changing how crops are grown can lower electric ant numbers. Also, proper land management can stop ant populations from growing too much in damaged areas. When building new farms, avoiding deforestation can prevent or reduce electric ant populations.

Chemicals and pesticides have been used in smaller ant populations, like those on the Galápagos Islands. These populations were usually smaller than 24 hectares (about 60 acres). Other methods, like non-specific ant poisons, fire, and clearing plants, have worked on small ant groups and small islands.

Images for kids

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  Central fusion and terminal fusion automixis

See also

In Spanish: Hormiguita de fuego para niños