21526930
not annotated - annotated - LINNAEUS only
Fire ant decapitating fly cooperative release programs (1994-2008): two Pseudacteon species, P. tricuspis and P. curvatus, rapidly expand across imported fire ant populations in the southeastern United States.
Natural enemies of the imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta Buren S. richteri Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), and their hybrid, include a suite of more than 20 fire ant decapitating phorid flies from South America in the genus Pseudacteon. Over the past 12 years, many researchers and associates have cooperated in introducing several species as classical or self-sustaining biological control agents in the United States. As a result, two species of flies, Pseudacteon tricuspis Borgmeier and P. curvatus Borgmeier (Diptera: Phoridae), are well established across large areas of the southeastern United States. Whereas many researchers have published local and state information about the establishment and spread of these flies, here distribution data from both published and unpublished sources has been compiled for the entire United States with the goal of presenting confirmed and probable distributions as of the fall of 2008. Documented rates of expansion were also used to predict the distribution of these flies three years later in the fall of 2011. In the fall of 2008, eleven years after the first successful release, we estimate that P. tricuspis covered about 50% of the fire ant quarantined area and that it will occur in almost 65% of the quarantine area by 2011. Complete coverage of the fire ant quarantined area will be delayed or limited by this species' slow rate of spread and frequent failure to establish in more northerly portions of the fire ant range and also, perhaps, by its preference for red imported fire ants (S. invicta). Eight years after the first successful release of P. curvatus, two biotypes of this species (one biotype occurring predominantly in the black and hybrid imported fire ants and the other occurring in red imported fire ants) covered almost 60% of the fire ant quarantined area. We estimate these two biotypes will cover almost 90% of the quarantine area by 2011 and 100% by 2012 or 2013. Strategic selection of several distributional gaps for future releases will accelerate complete coverage of quarantine areas. However, some gaps may be best used for the release of additional species of decapitating flies because establishment rates may be higher in areas without competing species.
Ann file
T1 Species 93 105 P. tricuspis
N1 Reference T1 Taxonomy:378805
T2 Species 110 121 P. curvatus
N2 Reference T2 Taxonomy:378805
T3 Species 255 273 Solenopsis invicta
N3 Reference T3 Taxonomy:13686
T4 Species 280 291 S. richteri
N4 Reference T4 Taxonomy:30203
T5 Species 673 694 Pseudacteon tricuspis
N5 Reference T5 Taxonomy:378805
T6 Species 709 720 P. curvatus
N6 Reference T6 Taxonomy:378805
T7 Species 1363 1375 P. tricuspis
N7 Reference T7 Taxonomy:378805
T8 Species 1735 1757 red imported fire ants
N8 Reference T8 Taxonomy:13686
T9 Species 1759 1769 S. invicta
N9 Reference T9 Taxonomy:13686
T10 Species 1822 1833 P. curvatus
N10 Reference T10 Taxonomy:378805
T11 Species 1908 1913;1925 1943 black imported fire ants
N11 Reference T11 Taxonomy:30203
T12 Species 1971 1993 red imported fire ants
N12 Reference T12 Taxonomy:13686
T13 Species 145 162 imported fire ant
N13 Reference T13 Taxonomy:13686 Solenopsis invicta
T14 Species 375 383 fire ant
N14 Reference T14 Taxonomy:13686 Solenopsis invicta
T15 Species 0 8 Fire ant
N15 Reference T15 Taxonomy:13686 Solenopsis invicta
T16 Species 235 253 imported fire ants
N16 Reference T16 Taxonomy:13686 Solenopsis invicta
T17 Species 1401 1409 fire ant
N17 Reference T17 Taxonomy:13686 Solenopsis invicta
T18 Species 1521 1529 fire ant
N18 Reference T18 Taxonomy:13686 Solenopsis invicta
T19 Species 1679 1687 fire ant
N19 Reference T19 Taxonomy:13686 Solenopsis invicta
T20 Species 1925 1943 imported fire ants
N20 Reference T20 Taxonomy:13686 Solenopsis invicta
T21 Species 2021 2029 fire ant
N21 Reference T21 Taxonomy:13686 Solenopsis invicta