Red imported fire ants were sampled from cotton plants with beat buckets and pitfall traps placed in the plant terminal during the growing season in central Texas. Foraging activity was greatest during the evening, night and early morning and declined with increasing canopy temperature. Fire ants were observed tending cotton aphids, Aphis gossypii, and collecting nectar at leaf and flower nectaries. Fire ants were observed preying on both predatory and pest insects. The role of red imported fire ants as biological control agents of cotton pests is discussed.
Species 1: Hymenoptera Formicidae Solenopsis wagneri (red imported fire ant)
Keywords: extrafloral nectaries, plant pitfall
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA