A survey of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, parasitoid Pseudacteon spp. phorid flies (Diptera: Phoridae) in urban areas of central Texas

A survey of the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) and their parasitoid, Pseudacteon spp. (Diptera: Phoridae) was conducted in urban areas of Central Texas for one year.  Pseudacteon fly and red imported fire ant interaction studies performed to date have been carried out in their native range, rural habitats as parts of large ranches or other large, undeveloped tracts of land.  Investigations in to whether or not phorids survive or thrive in urban habitats have not been explored.  This work reports on the presence of phorids in urban environments by season and also their abundance by habitat.  Habitats were classified based on impervious cover, population density, and city size.  Comparisons of fly density based on these landscape classifications will be presented.   The goal of this work was to anticipate effects of RIFA biological control programs currently being carried out and to characterize where interaction occur between biological control agents suppressing RIFA populations in urban systems.