Hairy, erratically moving ants native to South America and the Caribbean have been in the United States since the 1950s, but now the pests are moving into Louisiana.
A pest control agency in Sulphur sent a sample of the “hairy crazy ants” to the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum, where curator Victoria Bayless identified the species for the first time in Louisiana.
Bayless said the ants, whose scientific name is Nylanderia pubens, appeared in Florida in the 1950s and Texas in 2002. Ever since the hairy crazy ants came to southeastern Texas, etymologists like Bayless have expected their arrival in Louisiana.
Sulphur is the only place hairy crazy ants have been found thus far, and Bayless said the speed of their migration into the rest of Louisiana is unpredictable because of the new climate.
She said researchers have not yet found a way to prevent or get rid of the ants.
According to Bayless, the ants’ common name is indicative of the way they move.
“Their movements are very erratic, so they look crazy,” she said.
Bayless said the main difference between this species and other ant species is the size of the colonies. A single colony can contain millions of the pests because there are multiple queens, or head ants, that work together.
She said hairy crazy ants reproduce rapidly and do not respond to normal pest control methods.
The ants are dispersed by people moving them, such as picking up flower pots and putting them down in a different environment. Bayless said they spread out and nest underneath things.
Hairy crazy ants have also been reported in walls of houses, she said. They can cause electrical shortages as they accumulate in large numbers.
Biology sophomore Ina Tillison said she would “lose her mind” if she found hairy crazy ants in her house.
“I wouldn’t be able to stay in the house,” she said, explaining she is allergic to ants.
Bayless said the hairy crazy ants bite, and they cause similar allergic reactions to other ant bites.
Because the species originated in tropical climates, Bayless said the ants will be limited in their migration northward because of the colder climates.
She said the introduction of hairy crazy ants into a location where they are not native will likely cause imbalances in the ecosystem.
“All invasive species can potentially be a very serious problem,” Bayless said.
In Texas, the ants get into bee hives and eat larvae, causing a bee shortage. Bayless said this also affects agriculture because there are fewer bees to pollinate.
This also causes economic issues because of the additional costs to beekeepers to try to get rid of the ants, she said.
Bayless said there is much more research to be done in order to know more about this invasive species, such as how to decrease their population and how to avoid spreading them into homes.
 
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Contact Meredith Will at [email protected]