ATTEMPTS TO ARTIFICIALLY PROPAGATE THE FIRE ANT PARASITE

JUAN A. BRIANO, LUIS A. CALCATERRA, DAVID F. WILLIAMS, AND DAVID H. OI

FLORIDA ENTOMOLOGIST

FLORIDA ENTOMOLOGICAL SOC

Lugar: FLORIDA, EE.UU.; Año: 2002 vol. 85 p. 518 - 520

0015-4040

Several laboratory and field tests were conducted to introduce and propagate S. daguerrei into parasite-free fire ant colonies. The basic approaches used were the transference of parasite queens, sexuals and pupae, the location of parasitized and non parasitized colonies in close contact and the transplanting of newly-mated queens or entire colonies to field locations. The artificial propagation of S. daguerrei failed. In the laboratory, total mortality of S. daguerrei was observed in less than one month. In the field, the presence of S. daguerrei in the original transplanted colonies was observed for 15 months but dispersal of S. daguerrei was not observed.