• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

“They’re Advancing Much Faster Than Anticipated,” Hybrid Fire Ant Threat Heats Up In Virginia

February 11, 2025 by Deborah Bloomfield

A strange invader is marching across the United States, born of two different species. Red fire ants and black fire ants have both been imported to the US, and now they’ve teamed up to create a hybrid that’s more aggressive and more resilient than either of its parents. Meet Solenopsis invicta × richteri.

ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE

The hybrid ants are already established in East Tennessee, plus parts of Kentucky and North Carolina, writes Case Keatley for Virginia Tech News – and now they’re descending on Southwest Virginia. New mounds are reportedly being found weekly, and the spread is likely due to a perfect storm of hybridization hardiness and changing environmental conditions.

“When two different species interbreed, they can ‘borrow’ genes from one another,” said Scotty Yang, assistant professor in the Virginia Tech Department of Entomology, told Virginia Tech News. “If those borrowed genes happen to be useful – say, for surviving cold winters – they may stick around and give the hybrid a leg up in adapting to its environment.”

It seems Solenopsis invicta × richteri is enjoying the best of both worlds as it combines the traits of its parents to be able to thrive in cooler conditions than a pure-bred ant might prefer. Then, we have climate change to think about.

Fire ants live it up in the southernmost states of the US because they like heat, but areas they would’ve once found a bit chilly are getting warmer year on year. Virginia is no exception, experiencing milder winters and hotter summers since the hybrid ants first appeared in the region around 25 years ago. As the trend continues, it’s expected the hybrid ants will march on more states across the country.

“They’re advancing much faster than anticipated,” said Yang. “While it’s hard to say exactly when fire ants will establish themselves permanently in the New River Valley or Roanoke, given this rapid movement, it could happen as soon as the next few years.”

Hardy as they are, a fire ant is still an ant – but they’re able to make some serious distance by hitchhiking in bales of hay and firewood, traveling on vehicles. The issue is so pressing that the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the US Department of Agriculture have established quarantines specifically for these hybrids, but there is concern the ants have already breached these areas.

ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE

It might seem like a lot of fuss over an insect, but the introduction of an unusually aggressive swarming insect armed with venom can have devastating effects in regions that aren’t accustomed to them. Fire ants have been connected to calf deaths in livestock, and they can be a nasty surprise for unsuspecting humans too, capable of causing anaphylactic shock in an unlucky few.

“People need to be educated on these ants so they can prepare,” said Amy Byington, who partners with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in locating and treating hybrid fire ant mounds. “They are dangerous for populations not used to dealing with them and who initially treat them like normal ants.”  

For more information on avoiding stings, visit the Virginia Cooperative Extension website.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. British real estate agent Foxtons names Nigel Rich as chairman
  2. Soccer-Table-toppers Napoli recover to maintain perfect start
  3. Simulation Reveals How Extraterrestrial Civilizations Might Spread Across The Universe
  4. Beneath The Middle East, An Ancient Seabed Is Splitting From The Continental Plates

Source Link: “They’re Advancing Much Faster Than Anticipated,” Hybrid Fire Ant Threat Heats Up In Virginia

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Bright Northern Lights Across America Expected This Week As 3 Coronal Mass Ejections Fly Towards Earth
  • Brain Implant Enables Paralyzed Man To Feel And Use Objects Using Someone Else’s Hands
  • “This Is A Really Big Deal”: Brain Training Significantly Improves Key Neurochemical Levels In World First
  • “Wholly Unexpected”: First-Ever Fossil Paranthropus Hand Raises Questions About Earliest Tool Makers’ Identity
  • For Centuries, Nobody Knew Why Swiss Cheese Has Holes. Then, The Mystery Was Solved.
  • Scientists Studied The Infamous “Chicago Rat Hole” And They Have Some Bad News
  • Massive 166-Million-Year-Old Sauropod Footprints Become The Longest Dinosaur Trackway In Europe
  • Do Spiders Dream? “After Watching Hundreds Of Spiders, There Is No Doubt In My Mind”
  • IFLScience Meets: ESA Astronaut Rosemary Coogan On Astronaut Training And The Future Of Space Exploration
  • What’s So Weird About The Methuselah Star, The Oldest We’ve Found In The Universe?
  • Why Does Red Wine Give Me A Headache? Many Scientists Blame It On The Grape Skins
  • Manta Rays Dive Way Deeper Than We Thought – Up To 1.2 Kilometers – To Explore The Seas
  • Prof Brian Cox Explains What He Finds “Remarkable” About Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Story
  • Pioneering “Pregnancy Test” Could Identify Hormones In Skeletons Over 1,000 Years Old
  • The First Neolithic Self-Portrait? Stony Human Face Emerges In 12,000-Year-Old Ruins At Karahan Tepe
  • Women Are Diagnosed With ADHD 5 Years Later Than Men, Even With Worse Symptoms
  • What Is Cryptozoology? We Explore The History And Mystery Of This Controversial Field
  • The Universe’s “Red Sky Paradox” Just Got Darker: Most Stars Might Never Host Observers
  • Uranus And Neptune May Not Be “Ice Giants” But The Solar System’s First “Rocky Giants”
  • COVID-19 Can Alter Sperm And Affect Brain Development In Offspring, Causing Anxious Behavior
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version