If you are afraid of insects then Florida is not the state you want to be living in. Florida is home to an abundance of insect life. The reason why Florida is such a hot spot for insects is because the state receives shipments from locations all around the world. These shipments sometimes contain invasive insects from exotic locations. Once invasive insects arrive in Florida, the state’s tropical climate makes for an ideal habitat. This is why Florida is home to numerous invasive insects. For example, Florida contains the largest number of invasive termite species. And now it has recently been confirmed that a new invasive ant has managed to find its way into Florida. Florida already has numerous invasive ants as it is. Some of Florida’s ant populations include ghost ants, red imported fire ants, crazy ants, fire ants and more than fifty other nonnative ants. Most of these nonnative ants originate from South America, Africa or Asia, but the most recent nonnative ant to invade the state has traveled all the way from Madagascar. This ant is referred to as the little yellow ant.

The little yellow ant may sound harmless, but it is already causing problems for residents. Luckily, the little yellow ant does not bite, but that is about the only non-terrible thing that can be said in its favor. Since the ant is new to Florida, experts are not sure how damaging the ant may become to Florida’s ecosystem. So far the ant has been found in Ft. Lauderdale, and this is the first time that the little yellow ant has invaded the continental United States. Numerous Florida residents have already complained about these ants invading their homes in order to feed on their food.

The little yellow ants form supercolonies that reproduce in the millions, which is understandable since there exists thousands of egg-bearing queens for each colony. These ants could become the most numerous ant species in the state in a short amount of time.

Do you think that populations of little yellow ants will be held in check by predators? Or is it likely that no little yellow ant predators exist in Florida since the ants are not native?

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