The Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis invictal in Big Bend National Park, Brewster County, Texas

摘要

Since the original introduction of the red imported fire ant (RIFA), Solenopsisinvicta Buren, into the United States in 1933 (Tschinkel 2006), numerous reports ofits subsequent spread have been published (Anonymous 2001). RIFA was initiallyreported from Texas in 1953 (Culpepper 1953); its spread and distributionthroughout the state have been reported by several authors (e.g., Summerlin andGreen 1977, Hung and Vinson 1978, Pimm and Bartell 1980, Cokendolpher andPhillips 1989). The first sighting of RIFA at Big Bend National Park occurred at theChisos Basis Campsite and was recorded in a Texas Department of Agricultureunpublished report (Bhatkar 2001). On 6 August 2003, Logan Boswell, Brewsterand Jeff Davis County Extension Agent, contacted one of us (Skiles) concerning amound of RIFA originally discovered by the United States Department of Agriculturein the Chisos Basin during a survey conducted from April through September of thatyear. The USDA made one or two subsequent visits to the area during 2003-2004but reported no further findings of ants at the site. Steve Jones and Joe Alexander(Texas Department of Agriculture, Lubbock) also searched the campground duringthe summer of 2003 and also were unable to locate any mounds (personalcommunication, 27 June 2005, Steve Jones). However, on 1 October 2004, one ofus (Skiles) collected worker ants at the Chisos Basin Campground, specimens ofwhich were identified as S. invicta by William Summerlin of Texas A&M UniversitySubsequently, one of us (Clark) also collected S. invicta on 18 January 2005 in theChisos Basin Campground. Two small mounds were found at Campsite #28(latitude 29 deg 16 min 33 sec north, longitude 103 deg 18 min 07 sec west) at an elevation of 1,565m (United States Geological Survey 1997); no ants were active outside the nest socollection was made by digging into the mound. Voucher specimens rjave beendeposited in the following collections: Big Bend National Park, Texas; Orma J. SmithMuseum of Natural History, Albertson College of Idaho, Caldwell; United StatesNational Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; United StatesDepartment of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Stoneville, Mississippi;and Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenada, BajaCalifornia, Mexico.