They are v<r\ fond of quail; the) 

 enter the pipped egg- to gel them. 

 The ants often chase brooding hens 

 off their nests and ea1 their chicks. 



How They Develop 



To get a clear picture of how the 

 imported fire ant develops, it is neces- 

 sary to understand that three adull 

 forms exist: 



1. Winged fertile females 

 (queens), which lay the eggs. 



2. Winged fertile males, which 

 mate with the queens. 



3. Worker ants, which are wing- 

 less females. So far as is known, the) 

 are sterile. 



An ant colony begins when the 

 queen digs an underground chamber 

 (later enlarged into a mound) and 

 starts laying her eggs in clusters. 

 First she lays clusters of 10 to 15 eggs. 

 Later she gradually increases her out- 

 put to clusters of 75 to 125, laying 

 hundreds of eggs in all. 



The queen looks after her first egg 

 cluster almost constantly. She car- 

 ries it about wherever she goes. 



The eggs are smooth, shiny, and 

 white. The clusters resemble finely 

 ground meal. In 8 to 12 days the 

 eggs hatch into larvae. 



When the larvae appear, they are 

 ready to start feeding. They are 

 helpless, dirty-white grubs, and can 

 hardly move. They depend on the 

 queen and the workers. The queen 

 feeds her first larvae food that is 

 stored in her own body. Workers 

 feed larvae of subsequent broods. 



The larvae transform to pupae. 

 Those that become worker ants after 

 the pupal stage change into pupae in 

 6 to 12 days. Those that later 

 become winged females or winged 

 males take longer to develop. 



The pupae resemble the adult ants 

 in shape. It is easy to tell the dif- 

 ferent forms apart. Those that will 



Cabboge stem damaged by imported fire ant. 



be winged have paddle-like wing pads. 

 Adults emerge in 9 to 16 da\ s. 



Appearance and Habits 



Of the three adult forms, the work- 

 ers, which are reddish to blackish red. 

 are most numerous. \n a\ erage-size 

 mound may contain 25,000 workers. 



The workers range from L/8 to 1 1 

 inch in length. Most of the smaller 

 workers emerge from the queen's firsl 

 egg cluster, and most of the larger 

 ones from subsequent clusters. 



The workers forage for food, main- 

 tain the mound, and protect the 

 colony. The bigger worker- perform 

 these functions more efficient l\ than 

 the smaller ones. The) have more 

 powerful mandibles for biting and 

 chewing, and probabl) can >torc more 

 fluid in their stingers. 



The fertile winged forms are rarel) 

 seen. The) li\e in seclusion until it 

 is time for them to leave the mound 



