Crazy Ants
Crazy ants, also known as anoplolepis gracilipes are yellow colored ants deemed crazy because of their helter skelter frenzied movements. While the species originated in Africa it has spread worldwide due to migration via shipping. The ant is most famous for its colonies formed on Christmas Islands. In that tropical environment, the ant learned how to live in non-competitive multi-queened supercolonies that literally stretch for multi kilometers squared. Through shear numbers, the omnivorous ants are capable of killing large prey many times their size, including crabs and reptiles. While there are no known reports of man being killed by the crazed ants, there are videos on You Tube showing them niftily devouring a large armored crab, a favorite for these ants.
In the United States, the crazy ant was first found in Houston. Subsequently the ant migrated and has even been found in more northern states. However, even in the mid-Atlantic states, the predominantly warm weather cannot survive the cold winters unless it finds indoor lodgings.
They will eat sweets and kitchen scraps but prefer decaying animal matter. They are more likely to eat sweets during the cooler months, , and go after protein matter in the warmer hunting weather. They also feed on agricultural products including tobacco, lettuce. They even feed on grease.
In appearance the tiny ants have slender long legs, which are dark brown to black in color. Their thorax is not evenly rounded. They have one anterior abdominal segment, and a tufted abdominal tip.
Crazy ants live in multiple environmental habitats, both dry and moiste, indoors and outdoors, in the ground, or the the trunk of rotting trees. The ant travels in large hordes over great distances while foraging.They can cross shallow swamps by building bridges of dry leaves and themselves.
The crazy ant is one of the 100 most invasive species, and yet hard to kill because of its shear numbers. One compensation for this is the fact that in the southern United States, crazy ants feed on fire ants, which helps to reduce their population.
