Southern fire ant

Southern fire ant

Taxobox
name = Southern fire ant
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Hymenoptera
familia = Formicidae
genus = "Solenopsis"
species = "S. xyloni"
binomial = "Solenopsis xyloni"
binomial_authority = McCook, 1879

The Southern fire ant, "Solenopsis xyloni", is a stinging fire ant native to southern parts of the United States.cite book
last =Coleman
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =David C. Coleman, Paul F. Hendrix
title =Invertebrates as Webmasters in Ecosystems
publisher =CABI Publishing
date =2000
location =
pages =page 222
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=IhIKUvgXK6MC&pg=PA222&dq=Southern+fire+ant,+Solenopsis+xyloni&client=firefox-a&sig=iYwkDq4ghk-5FJHrHdrt2Dqcw74
doi =
id = ISBN:085199394X ] Its behavior is similar to the red imported fire ant "(S. invicta)", although its sting is less painful. Its main source of food is honeydew collected from aphids and other insects.

Southern fire ant shares its range (the area it inhabits) with the red imported fire ant ("S. invicta"), the golden fire ant ("S. aurea") and "S. amblychila". The Southern fire ant has the widest distribution of these, occurring from the Carolinas to Georgia through lowland Tennessee and south-central Kansas to California.

The scientific name comes from the Greek: "Solenopsis" means "pipe-faced" and "xyloni" means "of-wood". This is unusual, however, because the Southern fire ant does not eat or inhabit bark or fallen timber.

References


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