The Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) is a species of ant native to northern Argentina (as well as Paraguay, Uruguay and Southern parts of Brazil) and are also known as grease ants.
L. humile is considered an invasive species and is now well established elsewhere in South America (Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, etc) and in many mediterranean areas as well as the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa due to the movement of humans. The ants are ranked among the world's 100 worst animal invaders.
Their success is due, in part, to the fact that different nests of the introduced Argentine ants seldom attack or compete with each other, unlike most other species of ant. In their introduced range, their genetic makeup is so uniform that individuals from one nest can mingle in a neighboring nest without being attacked. Thus, in most of their introduced range they form "supercolonies". "Some ants have an extraordinary social organization, called unicoloniality, whereby individuals mix freely among physically separated nests.
Argentine ant workers are unable to lay reproductive eggs, but can direct the development of eggs into reproductive females; the production of males appears to be controlled by the amount of food available to the larvae. The queens seldom or never disperse in winged form. Instead, colonies spread by budding off into new units, with Argentine ants routinely moving their nests. As few as ten workers and a single queen can establish a new colony.
Tags: Linepithema | Humile
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