Little yellow ant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Little yellow ant |
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| Profile of P. alluaudi from AntWeb | |
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The Plagiolepis alluaudi, also known as the little yellow ant, is a tiny ant species. It originally comes from Madagascar, a large island near East Africa. This ant is now found in many other parts of the world because it is an invasive species. Sometimes, people call it Alluaud's little yellow ant to tell it apart from other small yellow ants. This name honors Charles A. Alluaud.
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What Does the Little Yellow Ant Look Like?
The Plagiolepis alluaudi is a very small ant. It is usually about 1⁄16 of an inch (1.6 mm) inch long. These ants are yellow and have a round head. They also have eleven parts, or segments, on their antennae.
There is only one other yellow ant in the Plagiolepis group, called P. exigua. However, P. exigua has a longer, more oval-shaped head, which helps tell them apart. You might also confuse P. alluaudi with worker ants from the Brachymyrmex group, but those ants only have nine antennal segments.
How Do Little Yellow Ants Live?
Plagiolepis alluaudi ants love to eat honeydew. Honeydew is a sweet, sticky liquid. It is made by tiny insects like aphids, mealybugs, and scale insects. These insects get the honeydew from plant sap.
Interestingly, P. alluaudi ants are known to protect these honeydew-producing insects. They even guard the young of these insects in their own nests until they grow up! These insects are often pests for farmers, so the ants protecting them can cause problems.
The colonies of P. alluaudi are huge. They can have thousands of queen ants that lay eggs. This allows them to form very large groups called supercolonies.
How Do These Ants Affect Humans?
The good news is that Plagiolepis alluaudi ants do not bite or sting humans. However, they can be a problem for farms. They protect other insects that harm crops, like citrus trees, by spreading diseases.
These ants can also come into people's homes. They are often looking for sweet foods to eat. Once a colony is settled, it can be very hard to get rid of them. One way to help is by putting ant baits outside your home. This can help reduce the size of a large colony.
Little Yellow Ants as an Invasive Species
Plagiolepis alluaudi ants often travel to new places by accident. They usually spread through shipping lanes, like on cargo ships. They have been found in many places far from Madagascar. This includes England, Germany, Switzerland, and many Pacific Islands. They have also reached Catalina Island in California, Hawaii, and the Caribbean.
These ants are considered a pest in the Pacific Islands and in greenhouses in Europe. In 2017, scientists found established colonies of P. alluaudi in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The warm and wet weather in South Florida means these ants will likely do very well there.
