Learning about life's smaller things can thwart alien invasions

The University of Queensland has developed a new study program to help people learn about, and identify fire ants and other bugs with an unfortunate impact on humans.

Senior lecturer in Zoology and Entomology Dr David Walter said Red Imported Fire Ants provided an important case study of an exotic insect pest about which people should be better educated.

"It has a really nasty disposition, and an even nastier sting, lives in large colonies and attacks people and wildlife at the slightest provocation," he said.

"Surely such an aggressive intruder should have soon come to the attention of the appropriate authorities. But who would inform the authorities of the alien invasion? The sad truth is that to most people, even most biologists, an ant is an ant is an ant..."

Dr Walter said UQ's Flexible Teaching & Learning Program in Entomology was a strategic initiative of the Entomology Program and UQ's Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay.

"It's designed to combat this kind of ignorance by providing training in the study and identification of insects, spiders, mites and other small arthropods important to human welfare.

"Red Imported Fire Ants (Solenopsis invicta Buren) are small (workers are mostly 3-6 mm long), but highly aggressive and, unlike Australia's many native stinging ants, inject a necrotising alkaloid venom when they sting.

"The stings result in painful, itchy and persistent pustules, and sometimes in severe allergic reactions. In the southeastern United States, where Imported Fire Ant was introduced about 70 years ago, about 5 million people are stung each year, 25,000 of them severely enough to consult a doctor.

"When a fire ant mound is disturbed, workers boil to the surface, run up any legs in the vicinity, grab the victim's skin in their mandibles and sting synchronously in response to the slightest movement. Although many native ants, like the green-headed or black ants (Rhytidoponera spp.) or bull ants (Myrmecia spp.), can deliver a painful sting, they are relatively large ants and lack the coordinated attacks of fire ants where dozens or even hundreds of workers sting in unison."

UQ has developed a page on fire ants from the Entomology page:
http://www.uq.edu.au/entomology/home.html

Dr Walter said people wishing to learn more about insects such as the fire ant, and learn about them at their own pace, could visit the Flexible Teaching & Learning Program in Entomology website at http://www.uq.edu.au/entomology/flexible.htmland press the More Information link. Subjects are available for credit at both undergraduate and graduate levels at UQ. Some subjects are also available through Open Learning Australia.

Media: For further information, contact Dr David Walter, telephone 07 3365 1564.