Red Imported Fire Ant

The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), or simply RIFA, is one of over 280 species in the widespread genus Solenopsis. Although the red imported fire ant is native to South America, it has become a pest in the southern United States, Australia, Poland, Taiwan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. There are also reports of ant hills in Macau, the former Portuguese enclave that borders the province of Guangdong. RIFA are known to have a strong, painful, and persistent irritating sting that often leaves a pustule on the skin.

Read more about Red Imported Fire Ant:  Overview, Morphology, Queen and Worker Behavior, Countermeasures, Genomics

Famous quotes containing the words red, imported, fire and/or ant:

    Her breasts under her gown
    are cold,
    for a flower has grown,
    murex-red
    on the red gown.
    Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)

    Surely there must be some way to find a husband or, for that matter, merely an escort, without sacrificing one’s privacy, self-respect, and interior decorating scheme. For example, men could be imported from the developing countries, many parts of which are suffering from a man excess, at least in relation to local food supply.
    Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)

    Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; but urge me not to use moderation in a case like the present.
    William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879)

    An ant on the tablecloth
    Ran into a dormant moth
    Of many times his size.
    He showed not the least surprise.
    His business wasn’t with such.
    He gave it scarcely a touch,
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)