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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Imported Fire Ant and Household Insects Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #92348
Title: A NEW BAIT ATTRACTIVE TO MULTIPLE SPECIES OF ANTS.

Author
item Williams, David
item VAIL, KAREN - UNIV OF TENNESSEE
item Oi, David

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A myriad of factors such as, seasonal preferences, nutritional requirements, and alternative food sources influence the foraging and acceptance of baits by ants. In addition, ant specificity to baits is affected by the active ingredient and the attractant used in the bait. For example, a bait that uses a soybean oil attractant and 1% fenoxcarb as its active ingredient will be readily accepted by imported fire ants but not b Pharaoh ants unless the fenoxycarb concentration is reduced. However, some ants will not accept oil attractants and will not feed on these types of baits regardless of the concentration of active ingredient. Despite the complexities of bait acceptance, liquid carbohydrate food sources are consistently fed upon by many species of ants. Thus, a new carbohydrate based, liquid attractant (hereafter referred to as MAB for "multiple ant species bait") was developed. In laboratory studies, MAB was found to attract more ants than a 9:10 sucrose:water or a 1:1 honey:water solution for the following species of ants: Argentine [Linepithema humile], crazy [Paratrechina longicornis], ghost [Tapinoma melanocephalum], and Florida carpenter [Camponotus floridanus] ants. In addition, for Pharaoh ants [Monomorium pharaonis], Pheidole dentata, P. megacephala, white-footed ants [Technomyrmex albipes], little fire ants [Wasmannia auropunctata], an acrobat ant species [Crematogaster pilosa], and M. trageri, the MAB had similar acceptance to that of the sugar and honey water solutions. A water soluble toxicant [USDA-ARS AI3 no. 10750] was incorporated into the MAB and provided to groups of Argentine, Florida carpenter, or ghost ant workers.