in Albi, the inhabitants of a neighborhood are invaded by ants

A species of exotic ant has invaded a neighborhood in the east of Albi (Tarn). Called Tapinoma magnum, it arrived around ten years ago at the home of a resident, who applies an insecticide several times a week.

This extremely resistant Mediterranean ant can bite. It adapts to all temperatures and reproduces very quickly, forming colonies of hundreds of thousands of insects. “It’s unpleasant, because it forces us to stay indoors“, explains Gilles Cousein, resident of Plaine des Fourches, who has just bought his house and would have preferred that the previous owner had warned him.

Conventional insecticides ineffective

This species of ant has been proliferating in France for around twenty years. Once it is established, conventional insecticides are not enough to get rid of it. “It’s almost impossible to get rid of it.”, indicates Olivier Blight, myrmecologist, teacher-researcher at the Mediterranean Institute of Biodiversity and Ecology. The city will undertake work and hopes to contain these ant colonies.