June 30, 2013

"'Crazy ants' invade Southern states, altering ecosystem."

"Also known to scientists as Nylanderia fulva, they're called crazy because of their unpredictable movements and swarming populations."
The bug is reddish-brown, about an eighth of an inch long and has a hankering for honey dew — with a side of electronics. The insects nest anywhere and are easily transported, but so far have mostly infested Texas and several Southern states after being inadvertently transported from South America by humans....

They cause about $146.5 million in electrical damage a year because millions of ants are electrocuted in small circuits or wires, where they seek warmth....

18 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

If we can get those crazy ants to live up in the attic we'll all be fine.

Rusty said...

Yeah.
We don't need no boarder control.

Deb said...

I was raised by 6 crazy ants. Down here we don't confine our crazy people to the attic. We bring them out & show them off.

John Burgess said...

On their plus side, they do drive out (and exterminate) the fire ants.

John Burgess said...

On their plus side, they do drive out (and exterminate) the fire ants.

John Burgess said...

On their plus side, they do drive out (and exterminate) the fire ants.

edutcher said...

Where's Chuck Heston when you need him?

Old RPM Daddy said...

I gotcher solution for youse right here!

kentuckyliz said...

I've had weird swarms of tiny red ants in my car, mailbox, and boat. Disgusting little creatures. Pisses me off to spend so much time fending off The Swarm. Has this kind reached eastern Kentucky?

Oso Negro said...

I never thought I would miss fire ants.

kentuckyliz said...

My ants are tinier than the ones in the video at the story, and my swarms aren't nearly as large...yet.

I was yelling obscenities at the disgusting creatures as I washed my sculling boat with hot ammonia water and vacuumed the boat cover. Which reminds me, I need to order a new boat cover.

n.n said...

So, this is how America will be conquered. An alien invasion across the southern border. Is this poetic justice or is it history, inevitably, periodically, repeating itself?

FORWARD to dysfunctional convergence.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

But ecosystem devastation is supposed to be good, as the conservatives keep telling everyone...

Quaestor said...

I clean out my computers semi-regularly, about every five months, using a shop vac with the hose reversed. (Tip: a reversible shop vac is cheaper than buying "canned air" trifluoroethane for several computers twice a year, and is safer for the electronics.) I had them all outside on the patio with my vac ready to perform the "blowjob" when I noticed something odd -- a tiny insect was lying on top of a resistor like a sacrificial virgin on a pagan altar. I removed it with non-conductive tweezers and examined the body with magnification. I decided that what I'd found was the remains of a parasitic wasp, possibly of the family Ichneumonidae. I wonder what is was doing in my computer, looking for caterpillars?

Quaestor said...

Those who believe ecosystems are naturally stable are subject to the simpleton's delusion that a human lifespan is a significant length of time. All ecosystems (a non-scientific term, btw, coined by a non-scientist) are always in flux except when the slope is zero, a vanishingly small moment in time.

"Ecosystem devastation" is a particularly stupid notion. What's beneficial to some is detrimental to others. Devastation from what, some ideal state? When was that happy time?

Nonapod said...

For a more "eco-friendly" solution, perhaps they could try spreading a bunch of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis spores around areas of infestation. Turn crazy ants into zombie ants.

traditionalguy said...

deadants deadants in texaswhere everything is big, including the ants.

One hopes the don' t like apples.

Drago said...

These south american ants are simply doing the crazy ant stuff north american ants refuse to do.