Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Where do fire ants live?
The introduction of invasive species, mainly the red fire ant, has been known to disrupt the beetle’s environment. Shallow caves in which the beetle live are relatively easy to enter and make them vulnerable to invasion of fire ants and other exotic species. Fire ant colonies occur in two different forms: single-queen colonies and multiple-queen colonies. It is the multiple-queen colonies that pose a threat because they occur in very dense concentrations of about 750–5000 mounds per acre. They can enter through the cave entrance or crawl through small holes or cracks and attack the karst species where humans cannot observe. Slow moving adults, nymphs, and eggs are most vulnerable to fire ant predation. More than 50% of the caves observed had fire ants present. This is a large sign that the fire ant has taken over or will eventually take over the habitat. Even if the fire ant does not prey on the beetle it is likely to change the links that are critical in the food chain.
A supercolony occurs when many ant colonies over a large area unite. They still continue to recognize genetic differences in order to mate, but the different colonies within the super colony avoid aggression. Until 2000, the largest known ant supercolony was on the Ishikari coast of Hokkaidō, Japan. The colony was estimated to contain 306 million worker ants and one million queen ants living in 45,000 nests interconnected by underground passages over an area of . In 2000, an enormous supercolony of Argentine ants was found in Southern Europe (report published in 2002). Of 33 ant populations tested along the stretch along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts in Southern Europe, 30 belonged to one supercolony with estimated millions of nests and billions of workers, interspersed with three populations of another supercolony. The researchers claim that this case of unicoloniality cannot be explained by loss of their genetic diversity due to the genetic bottleneck of the imported ants. In 2009, it was demonstrated that the largest Japanese, Californian and European Argentine ant supercolonies were in fact part of a single global "megacolony". This intercontinental megacolony represents the most populous recorded animal society on earth, other than humans. Although a good story, this has proven to be incorrect and no ant colony could reach such an enormous size without the 1 million queen ants collapsing their tiny ant economy due to fighting for the power of the ultimate queen.
The Antarctical realm is one of eight terrestrial biogeographic realms. The ecosystem includes Antarctica and several island groups in the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The continent of Antarctica is so cold and dry that it has supported only 2 vascular plants for millions of years, and its flora presently consists of around 250 lichens, 100 mosses, 25-30 liverworts, and around 700 terrestrial and aquatic algal species, which live on the areas of exposed rock and soil around the shore of the continent. Antarctica's two flowering plant species, the Antarctic hair grass ("Deschampsia antarctica") and Antarctic pearlwort ("Colobanthus quitensis"), are found on the northern and western parts of the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctica is also home to a diversity of animal life, including penguins, seals, and whales.
Superb fairywrens are predominantly insectivorous. They eat a wide range of small creatures (mostly insects such as ants, grasshoppers, shield bugs, flies, weevils and various larvae) as well as small quantities of seeds, flowers, and fruit. Their foraging, termed 'hop-searching', occurs on the ground or in shrubs that are less than two metres high. Because this foraging practice renders them vulnerable to predators, birds tend to stick fairly close to cover and forage in groups. During winter, when food may be scarce, ants are an important 'last resort' food, constituting a much higher proportion of the diet. Nestlings, in contrast to adult birds, are fed a diet of larger items such as caterpillars and grasshoppers.
Bates's pygmy antelope eat leaves, buds, shoots, fungus, grass, and herbs. They also eat crops, which makes them unpopular with farmers. They are often caught in snares near agricultural fields. They have a typical territory of . Males are territorial, marking their territory with scent produced in the preorbital glands. Females are friendlier with each other and sometimes live in small groups. They bark when fleeing. Most pygmy antelope mate at late dry and early wet seasons. Gestation period is 180 days. One young is born per pregnancy. The fawn weighs between .
The red-eared firetail ("Stagonopleura oculata"), also known as the boorin, is a small finch-like species of bird. It occurs in dense wetland vegetation of coastal to sub-coastal regions in Southwest Australia. Its appearance is considered appealing, with white spots, black barring and vivid crimson marks at the ear and upper tail. Red-eared firetails are usually only glimpsed briefly, if at all, as they move rapidly and discreetly through their habitat. Most observations occur when their soft voice is heard, or in flight when flushed from the dense scrub. Males and females are similar in colouring and bond as lifelong pairs that occupy a territory centred on their roosting and brooding nest site. The species occupy a similar ecological niche to the beautiful firetail "Stagonopleura bella" found in the east of Australia, although unlike other species of the genus they only occasionally group together and are almost never seen in large flocks.
The Flanders virus is similar to the antigentic make-up of the Hart Park virus. Both the HP and Flanders viruses are part of the Rhabdoviridae family and are both agents of "Culex" mosquitoes. The Flanders virus was named after the town in which it was first discovered in 1960. This town, in New York is a hamlet that provides the ideal habitat for mosquitoes because of its relatively long coastline. The access to large standing bodies of water are perfect nesting grounds for the "Culex" mosquitoes to begin laying eggs, away from potential predators. Similarly, the Flanders virus typically infects wild birds. The primary targets of the Flanders virus are red-winged blackbirds, house sparrows, and starlings.
The closest relatives of mantises are the termites and cockroaches (Blattodea), which are all within the superorder Dictyoptera. Mantises are sometimes confused with stick insects (Phasmatodea), other elongated insects such as grasshoppers (Orthoptera), or other unrelated insects with raptorial forelegs such as mantisflies (Mantispidae). Mantises are mostly ambush predators, but a few ground-dwelling species are found actively pursuing their prey. They normally live for about a year. In cooler climates, the adults lay eggs in autumn, then die. The eggs are protected by their hard capsules and hatch in the spring. Females sometimes practice sexual cannibalism, eating their mates after copulation.
This bee lives in underground nests, preferably in or around wooden areas and gardens. Nests can be anywhere from 6 inches to a foot below the surface. Tunnels traveling to the nest range from 9 inches to 4 feet long. "B. bimaculatus" can also nest above ground or in cavities. Bees do not build nests and instead rely on finding abandoned rodent dens, hollow logs, suitable man-made structures, or tussocks. Queens will hibernate in loose dirt or rotting logs.
The largest of the ants, and the heaviest species of the family, are the females of "Dorylus helvolus", reaching a length of . The ant that averages the largest for the mean size of the whole colony is "Dinoponera gigantea", averaging up to . Another ant that is native to Australia, "Myrmecia brevinoda", workers are reported to be on average and queens are more than in length.
Sable antelope live in savanna woodlands and grasslands during the dry season, where they eat mid-length grasses and leaves. They visit salt licks and have been known to chew bones to collect minerals. They are diurnal, but are less active during the heat of the day. They form herds of 10 to 30 females and calves led by a single male, called a bull. Males fight among themselves; they drop to their knees and use their horns.
The red-eared firetail is a seed eating estrildid, discreet and unusually solitary for an Australian grass finch species. This species often remains unobserved in dense vegetation while foraging in the lower storey. Their presence is revealed by distinctive calls and the bird is most frequently seen when perched high on the limb of a tree such as marri. The individuals form mated pairs rather than grouping. Their individual range is an area around one to two hundred metres across and they may join others while feeding where their territories overlap. Earnest defence of sites only occurs close to the nest, so boundaries between pairs may intersect without incident. Fledglings are eventually fought and driven from the nest site.
Philanthus gloriosus is a species of bee-hunting wasp found west of the 100th meridian in North America, from Medicine Hat, Alberta south across the High Plains and Rocky Mountains to the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Mexico City and Puebla.
"Dinoponera" contains one of the largest species of ants in the world, with female "Dinoponera gigantea" specimens measuring in length. Size is the most obvious character distinguishing "Dinoponera" from other genera. The only other ants with a worker caste approaching this size are "Paraponera clavata" (the bullet ant) and the larger "Pachycondyla" such as "P. crassinoda", "P. impressa" and "P. villosa". "Paraponera clavata" is easily separated by its anvil-shaped petiole with a spine on the ventral surface, highly sculptured body and deep antennal scrobes. "Pachycondyla" is regarded as the sister taxa to "Dinoponera". "Dinoponera", in addition to their size, are distinguishable from "Pachycondyla" by the presence of two laterally projecting clypeal teeth and rows of spines on the pygidium and hypopygidium.
This is a bird which breeds in sub-tropical semi-desert with a few trees, such as acacia. It winters in open woodland or grassland. As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. However, this species probably takes more dragonflies than any other food item. Its preferred hunting perch is telephone wires if available.
In 1991, there were 142 "permanent residents" including 19 minors. "Residents" are families that live in Antarctica or scientists that have lived for more than two years. They were 121 men and 21 women that lived mostly in the colony of Esperanza and other bases. As of 1998–1999, Argentine Antarctica had a winter population of 165.
Polybia rejecta is a species of social wasp found in the Neotropics region of the world. It was discovered by Fabricius in South America in the 1790s. The wasp is associated with many other organisms, particularly specific species of ants and birds such as the "Azteca" ants and the cacique birds. This association is most beneficial to the ants and birds because of the aggressive protective nature of the wasp. The wasps will protect their nest even if it means death against any predator that approaches it and therefore this means that the association also protects the ants and birds. Additionally, the wasp is known for eating the eggs of red eyed tree frogs as a main way of subsistence. It also, like many other wasp species, has a caste system of queens and workers that is evident by difference in body size among the wasps; the biggest female becomes the queen.
The Andean condor is found in South America in the Andes, including the Santa Marta Mountains. In the north, its range begins in Venezuela and Colombia, where it is extremely rare, then continues south along the Andes in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile, through Bolivia and western Argentina to the Tierra del Fuego. In the early 19th century, the Andean condor bred from western Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego, along the entire chain of the Andes, but its range has been greatly reduced due to human activity. Its habitat is mainly composed of open grasslands and alpine areas up to in elevation. It prefers relatively open, non-forested areas which allow it to spot carrion from the air, such as the páramo or rocky, mountainous areas in general. It occasionally ranges to lowlands in eastern Bolivia and southwestern Brazil, descends to lowland desert areas in Chile and Peru, and is found over southern-beech forests in Patagonia.
Wasps first appeared in the fossil record in the Jurassic, and diversified into many surviving superfamilies by the Cretaceous. They are a successful and diverse group of insects with tens of thousands of described species; wasps have spread to all parts of the world except for the polar regions. The largest social wasp is the Asian giant hornet, at up to in length; among the largest solitary wasps is a group of species known as tarantula hawks, along with the giant scoliid of Indonesia ("Megascolia procer"). The smallest wasps are solitary chalcid wasps in the family Mymaridae, including the world's smallest known insect, with a body length of only , and the smallest known flying insect, only long.
Banded sugar ants appear in different forms, varying from in length, making them a large species. Banded sugar ants are polymorphic, and colonies have two types of workers: minor workers and major workers that have different size ranges. The two castes can be identified easily, due to the workers being smaller and more slender, while the soldiers are larger and more robust. Both castes carry a set of powerful mandibles. Queen ants are the largest ants in the colony. Banded sugar ants come in a variety of colours, possibly due to ecological rather than genetic influences. For example, humidity, insolation and temperature may all affect the colour of an individual.
Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Most of Antarctica is a polar desert, with annual precipitation of only 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F) (or even −94.7 °C (−135.8 °F) as measured from space), though the average for the third quarter (the coldest part of the year) is −63 °C (−81 °F). Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at research stations scattered across the continent. Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, bacteria, fungi, plants, protista, and certain animals, such as mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Vegetation, where it occurs, is tundra.
Red imported fire ants are omnivores, and foragers are considered to be scavengers rather than predators. The ants' diet consists of dead mammals, arthropods, insects, earthworms, vertebrates, and solid food matter such as seeds. However, this species prefers liquid over solid food. The liquid food the ants collect is sweet substances from plants or honeydew-producing hemipterans. Arthropod prey may include dipteran adults, larvae and pupae, and termites. The consumption of sugar amino acid is known to affect recruitment of workers to plant nectars. Mimic plants with sugar rarely have workers to feed on them, whereas those with sugar and amino acids have considerable numbers. The habitats where they live may determine the food they collect the most; for example, forage success rates for solid foods are highest in lakeshore sites, while high levels of liquid sources were collected from pasture sites. Specific diets can also alter the growth of a colony, with laboratory colonies showing high growth if fed honey-water. Colonies that feed on insects and sugar-water can grow exceptionally large in a short period of time, whereas those that do not feed on sugar-water grow substantially slower. Colonies that do not feed on insects cease brood production entirely. Altogether, the volume of food digested by nestmates is regulated within colonies. Larvae are able to display independent appetites for sources such as solid proteins, amino acid solutions, and sucrose solutions, and they also prefer these sources over dilute solutions. Such behaviour is due to their capability to communicate hunger to workers. The rate of consumption depends on the type, concentration, and state of the food on which they feed. Workers tend to recruit more nestmates to food sources filled with high levels of sucrose than to protein.
Not only do they thrive in urban areas, red imported fire ants can damage equipment and infrastructure and impact business, land, and property values. They are also attracted to electricity; electrically stimulated workers release venom alkaloids, alarm pheromones, and recruitment pheromones, which in return attracts more workers to the site. As a result, red imported fire ants can destroy electrical equipment. This is known as magnetism, where scientists have identified internal magnetic materials which may play a role in orientation behaviours. They are known to chew through electrical insulation which causes damage to electric motors, irrigation lines, pumps, signal boxes, transformers, telephone exchanges, and other equipment. Colonies aggregate near electrical fields and are capable of causing short circuits or interfering with switches and equipment such as air conditioners, computers, and water pumps. They are also known to infest airport landing areas and traffic lights.
Although most fire ant species do not bother people and are not invasive, "Solenopsis invicta", known in the United States as the red imported fire ant (or RIFA) is an invasive pest in many areas of the world, notably the United States, Australia, China and Taiwan. The RIFA was believed to have been accidentally introduced to these countries via shipping crates, particularly with Australia when they were first found in Brisbane in 2001. These ants have now since been spotted in Sydney for the first time. They were believed to be in the Philippines, but they are most likely to be misidentified for "Solenopsis geminata" ants.
These ants exhibit a wide variety of behaviours, such as building rafts when they sense that water levels are rising. They also show necrophoric behaviour, where nestmates discard scraps or dead ants on refuse piles outside the nest. Foraging takes place on warm or hot days, although they may remain outside at night. Workers communicate by a series of semiochemicals and pheromones which are used for recruitment, foraging, and defence. They are omnivores and eat dead mammals, arthropods, insects, seeds, and sweet substances such as honeydew from hemipteran insects with whom they have developed relationships. Predators include arachnids, birds and many insects including other ants, dragonflies, earwigs, and beetles. The ant is a host to parasites and to a number of pathogens, nematodes, and viruses which have been viewed as potential biological control agents. Nuptial flight occurs during the warm seasons, and the alates may mate for as long as 30 minutes. Colony founding can be done via a single queen or a group of queens, who will later contest for dominance once the first workers emerge. Workers can live for several months while queens can live for years; colony numbers can vary from 100,000 to 250,000 individuals. Two forms of society in the red imported fire ant exist: polygynous colonies (nests with multiple queens) and monogynous colonies (nests with one queen).