Latin name: SOLENOPSIS INVICTA
Type: (mammal fish bird etc)
Diet: omnivore
Average lifespan:
on average live approximately three years
Size: 6 millimeters long
Fire ants range in size from 1/8 to 1/4 inch
Weight: about 0.003 grams
Group name: Colony
Fire ants are very lively but also aggressive. If anything disturbs their fire ant nest they will be swarming lal over them in no time. They often attack wild animals, pets, baby animals or people. Sometimes they might even kill the intruder. Their stings are very painful and about 40% of people in affected areas get stung each year. Twenty million people a year are stung by fire ants in the United States alone!
Fire Ants video.
What does a Fire Ant look like?
Fire ants have dull red coloration on their bodies. This color ranges from reddish black to reddish brown. The Fire ants have a little stinger. The fire ants bite and sting give these ants their name.
Where do fire ants live?
Fire ants build their nests in the soil near moist and watery areas. They prefer pond edges, river banks, watered lawns and highway edges. Usually the nest will not be visible as it will be built under objects such as timber, logs, rocks, pavers, bricks, etc. If there is no cover for nesting, dome-shaped mounds will be constructed, but this is usually only found in open spaces such as fields, parks and lawns.
What does a Fire Ant eat?
Fire ants are not very pick and easy nearly everything, mainly they eat other little insects. The fire ant works sting other insects and then tear them into little manageable pieces. Then they take these little pieces back to their colony. Fire ants can sense the oil in insects, seeds and worms, this oil attracts them to their prey. This is the reason this oil is also used in fire ant bait and insecticide, to lure the fire ants into a trap. Fire ants also like sweets, they are attracted to sugars like nectar and honeydew. The fire ant workers can chew, but they can only swallow liquids. The fire ants bring the solid foods back to their colony, where they are digested by fire ant larvae, which chew and digest it and regurgitate it in liquid form. Then this liquid form is fed to other members of the fire ant colony.
Did you know about these Fire Ant facts?
Fire ants are social insects that nest in the soil in large colonies that contain tens of thousands to more than 200,000 ants.
Fire ants first entered the United States about 1918, near Mobile, Alabama.
There are two species of fire ants in the state. Red imported fire ants are the most common, but some areas have black imported fire ants, or hybrids of these two species. These two species are similar in biology and behavior.
Most of the ants in a fire ant colony are infertile, female workers.
Usually there is only one queen per colony. The queen lays the eggs.
Small colonies develop into large colonies especially quickly if there are no bigger colonies nearby to compete with them.
Fire Ant images
Fire Ant Wallpapers
Download free Fire Ant wallpapers, click on the image to open the large version.
Fire Ant wallpaper 1
Fire Ant wallpaper 2
Fire Ant wallpaper 3
Fire Ant wallpaper 4
Fire Ant Coloring pages
Print free Fire Ant coloring pages, click on the image to open the large version.
Fire ants are very lively but also aggressive. If anything disturbs their fire ant nest they will be swarming lal over them in no time. They often attack wild animals, pets, baby animals or people. Sometimes they might even kill the intruder. Their stings are very painful and about 40% of people in affected areas get stung each year. Twenty million people a year are stung by fire ants in the United States alone! 
