Texas Scientists Naturalize 4 Phorid Fly Species to Curb $1.2 Billion Fire Ant Damage
Updated
Updated · KUT · Jun 30
Texas Scientists Naturalize 4 Phorid Fly Species to Curb $1.2 Billion Fire Ant Damage
1 articles · Updated · KUT · Jun 30
Summary
Larry Gilbert’s University of Texas team spent decades establishing four South American phorid fly species in Texas to suppress invasive red imported fire ants rather than eradicate them.
In Brazil, Gilbert found the flies naturally kept fire ant mounds sparse by laying eggs in ants, killing some and disrupting foraging across colonies.
The effort appears to have helped drive a slow decline in Texas fire ant populations, Gilbert said, though mounds remain common in Austin yards, parks and camps.
Texas A&M entomologist Wizzie Brown said the ants remain hard to eliminate because many Texas colonies have multiple queens producing hundreds to 1,000 eggs a day.
Fire ants, introduced through Alabama in the 1930s, were estimated to cost Texans $1.2 billion a year by 1998 after harming livestock, crops, equipment and public health.