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The little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata), also known as the electric ant, is a small (approx 1.5 mm (1 ⁄ 16 in) long), light to golden brown (ginger) social ant native to Central and South America, now spread to parts of Africa (including Gabon and Cameroon), Taiwan, [2] North America, Puerto Rico, [3] Israel, [4] [5] Cuba, St. Croix and six Pacific Island groups (including the ...
A person typically encounters problems with fire ants by inadvertently stepping onto one of their mounds, which causes the ants to swarm up the person's legs, attacking en masse. The ants quickly respond to alarm pheromones that are released by the first disturbed ants, causing a swarm followed by aggressive stinging.
Truthfully, it was a blessing in disguise that these biting, wood-loving ants fell on Andrew and his wife that night: Had they not been there, the colony could've easily done a lot of damage to ...
Charles Darwin wrote of the interaction between size and complexity of invertebrate brains: . It is certain that there may be extraordinary activity with an extremely small absolute mass of nervous matter; thus the wonderfully diversified instincts, mental powers, and affections of ants are notorious, yet their cerebral ganglia are not so large as the quarter of a small pin's head.
If disturbed, fire ants bite and sting the intruder. They are apparently attracted to electrical equipment, and crawl into air conditioning units and the electrical wiring of stop lights, shorting them out. This is the leading cause of traffic light shorts in Texas, where the ants cause more than US$140 million in damage each year [citation ...
In some cases, static electricity can attract particulates to the skin and can also cause body hair to move, giving a sensation like insects crawling over the skin. [1] However, in many cases no external trigger creates the sensation. In rare cases, individuals become convinced the sensation is due to the presence of real insects on or under ...
The bites don't usually hurt, but can look like hives, or in some cases, cause severe swelling. Some kissing bugs can carry the parasite that causes Chagas disease, which, left untreated, can lead ...
This can cause additional injuries inside the animal itself, especially in the upper gastrointestinal tract. In suckling white tail deer fawns, sting sites have been found in the oesophagus and abomasum; toxins from the ingested ants may cause inflammation of the gastrointestinal lining. [73]