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It is a very small but formidable invader. 88 nests of fire ants, an insect from South America, have been discovered in Sicily. This is worrying because fire ants eat everything. They have a stinger and they sting animals as well as humans.
From the height of their 4 mm, the fire ants were filmed near a Sicilian port, a first in Europe. “We found them almost by chance. Residents have sent us photos of these ants, whose bite is particularly painful“explains Mattia Menchetti, an entomologist at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona, Spain.
Dangerous for animals and humans
The mandibles of this ant bite, its stinger stings, its venom causes itching and pustules leading to anaphylactic shock. About ten people die from it each year in the United States. The fire ant left Latin America and traveled to Sicily. In the Var, a related species was discovered last year. Queens fly and can therefore travel thousands of kilometers if they travel by boat through wood or potted plants. In the city, this ant loves to nibble on all kinds of cables and cause short circuits. Only New Zealand has managed to get rid of them with a massive mixture of parasites and insecticides.