13 replies to this topic

[Manitobant]

Oh no… good luck european keepers


https://amp.cnn.com/...-scn/index.html

[bmb1bee]

Kill them with fire.

[ANTdrew]

They found Brachyponera there, too. RIP

[Virginian_ants]

Dang I thought Europe would be safe.

[AntsCali098]

Europe is under attack

[Ernteameise]

Oh no. This is really bad news.

[Virginian_ants]

They probably won't get any more north then the Alps because of the temperature.

[Ernteameise]

They probably won't get any more north then the Alps because of the temperature.

Sadly, we have a region in Germany with subtropical temperatures (the Upper Rhine valley)-

there, we have several Mediterranian species, even including Messor harvester ants for which the rest of Germany is too cold.

And with climate change, it is actually just a matter of time...

after all, we now also have Asian Tiger Mosquitoes and similar invasive pests.

[Ernteameise]

I groaned and endured physical pain when I looked at the website of the German public news channel and they posted this story.

And they have this picture in the title.

This is not the internet joke news, this is the public news channel. And they clearly did not ask any experts.

Bonus for anyone who can guess the species.

 

 

And here is the article in full

https://www.tagessch...europa-100.html

Edited by Ernteameise, September 12 2023 - 12:53 PM.

[antsriondel]

I groaned and endured physical pain when I looked at the website of the German public news channel and they posted this story.

And they have this picture in the title.

This is not the internet joke news, this is the public news channel. And they clearly did not ask any experts.

Bonus for anyone who can guess the species.

 

 

And here is the article in full

https://www.tagessch...europa-100.html

Really? Oecophylla smaragdina? Why does this happen so many times?

[Virginian_ants]

I know everytime I look up fire ants they come up. Makes me wonder do some people of that area call them fire ants?

[AntaholicAnonymous]

Even in a lot of youtube videos they use weaver ant pictures.
Goes to show how little the average person knows about ants and how much effort goes into research.
I'd guess it's just because they have vaguely similar colours

[Manitobant]

I know everytime I look up fire ants they come up. Makes me wonder do some people of that area call them fire ants?

yes, this is the exact reason you see it so much. Oecophylla are actually called “fire ants” in many of the native southeast asian languages. Mind you fire ant solenopsis are relatively new to the region so the natives were calling them this long before they even knew invicta or geminata existed.

[ANTS_KL]

I know every time I look up fire ants they come up. Makes me wonder do some people of that area call them fire ants?

Yes, in places where they are native, we call them fire ants. This is just the English or Chinese name for them though, there are different names in the native languages for O. smaragdina in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines etc. (e.g., kroto, semut rangrang, semut kerangga).