CHAPTER SIX 

 ABUNDANCE OF BURENELLA DIMORPHA IN NATURE 



As part of a survey for pathogens of native and imported 

 fire ants in the United States, Jouvenaz et al. (1977) examined 

 307 colonies of S^. geminata from 7 4 collection sites in Florida 

 and Georgia. Twelve (3.9%) of these colonies from seven 

 collection sites in Florida were infected with B. dimorpha . 

 The infection rate at the type locality of B. dimorpha (which 

 was not included in the survey) was obviously much higher 

 than 3.9%. Therefore, I decided to investigate the infec- 

 tion rate at this specific site. 



Materials and Methods 

 Sixty-nine colonies of S^. geminata from the type locality 

 of B. dimorpha (State Road #26, ca 1-3 km east of Interstate 

 Highway 75, Alachua County, Florida) were screened for disease 

 as described in General Materials and Methods. Forty of 

 these colonies were examined in August, 1975, and the remain- 

 ing 29 were examined in September, 197 7. 



Results and Discussion 

 The infection rate at the type locality of B. dimorpha was 

 much higher than that of the 307 colonies examined by Jouvenaz 

 et al. Seventeen (42.5%) of the 40 colonies in the first 



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