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Australia is being threatened by the invasion of the Yellow Crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes). The ant is recognised as one of the world's worst invaders by the Global Invasive Species Programme, and represents a major environmental and economic threat.
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"The density of foraging worker ants in super-colonies is amazing, reaching around 1000 per square metre or 79m per hectare of bush," explained Dr Ben Hoffmann, senior research fellow for CSIRO (http://www.csiro.au/).
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"They are a serious pest to agriculture as they cause outbreaks of sap-sucking insects which harm plants."
.The Yellow Crazy ant, believed to have originated from India, was accidentally introduced to Australia 60 to 70 years ago.
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Native species are at risk including red land crabs (a keystone species in the forest ecology by digging burrows, turning over the soil, and fertilising it with their droppings), whose numbers have fallen by 30 per cent since super-colonies were first reported in 1989.
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The ants are also a threat to human health as their acid spray can make people and animals blind if people, particularly children, accidentally rub it into their eyes.
Credit: CSIRO
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