CHAPTER THREE 

 GENERAL MATERIALS AND METHODS 



Collection and Maintenance of Colonies 

 Laboratory colonies of fire ants were obtained by- 

 collecting queens and contingents of their workers from es- 

 tablished field colonies, or (during the spring of the year) 

 by capturing newly mated queens from under debris or as 

 they wandered over the surface of the ground. Queens of 

 other species of ants (used for host range studies) were 

 collected exclusively by the latter method. 



Ants were collected from field colonies by excavating 

 the mounds with shovels and transporting the soil containing 

 ants to the laboratory in plastic buckets, the inner walls 

 of which were coated with Fluon GP-1 (ICI United States, 

 Wilmington, Delaware 19897) to prevent escape of the ants. 

 The soil in the buckets was slightly moistened (if necessary) 

 and left undisturbed overnight to allow the ants to establish 

 tunnels and to collect buried immatures. Water was then 

 slowly dripped from medical intravenous fluids tubes into 

 the buckets, forcing the ants to the surface of the soil. 

 When the soil was completely submerged, masses of adult 

 and immature ants floated or clung to the sides of the bucket, 

 and were easily transferred with a ladle to Fluon-coated 



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