Yellow Crazy Ant
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| Yellow Crazy Ant | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Anoplolepis gracilipes F.Smith, 1857 |
The Yellow Crazy Ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes) is a species of ant which has been introduced accidentally to northern Australia and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, becoming a pest in both locations. The native range is not known explicitly, although authors have speculated its origin as West Africa, India, or China. [1] (http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=110&fr=1&sts=)
It is a particular problem on Christmas Island. It has adapted its behaviour so that instead of forming colonies with a single queen, it now forms supercolonies with several queens which cooperate rather than fight.
This aggressive insect has devastated the wildlife of the island. It will overpower sizeable creatures like reptiles and coconut crabs and has killed 10-20 million Christmas Island red crabs.
It is estimated that the population of Christmas Island Frigatebird (Fregata andrewsi) will decline by 80% in the next 30 years due to predation of the young by Crazy Ants; however, an aerial spraying procedure seems to have had remarkably effective results in controlling the ants.
External link
- Yellow Crazy Ants, from the Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage (http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/christmas/fauna/crazy.html)