Fornicating fire ants evicted

This is an opportunity to start a new business. Importing pet anteaters.
 
Supposedly the ants have a magnetic/gps type feature to locate their individual mounds. There was a big research project in South America a few years back to generate electrical fields/signals to confuse them and keep them from finding home. Big writeup in Ag Research magazine at the time, never heard about it again. There is a parasitic wasp (forid fly, maybe) that finds the mounds by the formic acid smell they give off, lays eggs in the larvae, then emerges by cutting off the ants heads. Not enough wasps I guess. Also claimed was that armadillos ate them. Too many armadillos, not enough eating ants.
 
RJSakowski said:
This is an opportunity to start a new business. Importing pet anteaters.
Click to expand...
Buy a doll house shovel and start digging prefab nests for antlions. If the business goes well, maybe one day you can upgrade to a 1:24 diecast excavator.
 
Mauzinette said:
I wonder if there are any other ant species that are attracted to electricity :distant: We’re lucky to not have these little buggers here in Finland!
Click to expand...
They are not a native species here in the USA they come from South America. Very invasive . I've heard they will hitch a ride on pallets of goods and ride the freight ships. I know when I was living in Mexico anything that was imported into Mexico must be on pallets that had been heat treated to kill any and all insects and eggs. As far as the electricity is concerned, they will invade electrical devices that are not powered on.
 
They came into the US in 1942 on soil used for ballast on a barge (to Mobile, seems like).
 
Texas is being covered up with wind turbines and solar panels. I just wonder how the ants and mud daubers will affect them. 2 winters ago the entire state of Texas was without power for 2 days because the Turbines froze up ! Neighbors all around me have the solar panels in their yards and on their roofs. I think it is silly myself. When my electricity is off so is theirs. No longer can they sell back electricity here in Texas. Will be interesting to see how well they work after 10 years exposed to the weather. Well I guess if they quit working, they will make good homes for the Mud Daubers and Fire ants. :grin:
 
Not only Texas. China is pouring ridiculous amounts of money into photovoltaics and their solar capacity is likely to exceed 1 terawatt by 2026.

spectrum.ieee.org

This Engineer’s Solar Panels Are Breaking Efficiency Records

Yifeng Chen has been at the helm of dozens of photovoltaic advances
spectrum.ieee.org spectrum.ieee.org

Above is an interesting article about the latest advancements in PV technology :wink:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top