Posted on 05/13/2009 6:41:40 PM PDT by csvset
A fly lays an egg inside an unsuspecting victim walking in the woods on a sunny day. Soon the egg matures and moves into the head of its prey, taking bodily control before turning the prey into a living zombie. Before the victim knows what's happening, its head pops off and a new fly emerges, off to find another host.
Sound like a plot from a familiar horror movie? It is actually real — a new species of a fire ant-controlling bug is being introduced into East Texas — through a joint effort of the University of Texas and Texas A&M. It may just be the answer to stopping a familiar pest that threatens people and livestock.
"This is all part of a nationwide effort to stop the spread of imported fire ants," said Scott Ludwig, pest management specialist with Texas A&M's AgriLife program in Overton. "The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been working with a number of states to introduce these flies. We've released three species here in Texas alone."
The new type of phorid fly is a tiny parasite preying solely on red imported fire ants, which Ludwig said are more than likely the ones found here in East Texas.
Scientists theorize the ants came to the southern United States by way of Mobile, Ala. after dirt from South America was shipped there to be used for a construction project. The ants spread out across the warm southern states and have been stinging ankles ever since.
The impact of red imported fire ants in Texas is estimated to be $1.2 billion annually, according to the Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Project, at Texas A&M.
"The damage caused by these ants can be pretty severe," Ludwig said. "They can mess up wiring in appliances, attack ground-nesting birds and take over territory from native ants."
To kill the pests, the newly introduced fly lays an egg inside a foraging fire ant's thorax. After about 10 days the egg hatches. As it matures the larvae moves into the head of the ant, controlling the ant's actions.
"We're not sure how they control the ant, but these ants have a pretty simple nervous system," Ludwig said.
The parasite forces the ant to wander away from its colony, where the fly eventually becomes fully grown — killing the ant as it emerges through its head.
Other species of the flies previously only attacked ants in disturbed mounds. The new species, Pseudacteon obtusus, will prey on ants as they forage for food. Fire ants can sense the presence of the flies and will greatly cut down on the number and distance of foraging trips, giving other ants the chance to survive in the same area, Ludwig said.
As promising as it sounds, scientists combating the fire ants don't want the public to think this is the end-all, be-all cure. It's only the first step.
"This is not a silver bullet. It's going to take a lot of efforts to stop these ants," Ludwig said. "This is just the beginning."
For tips on dealing with fire ants and more information about the new flies, visit Texas A&M's fire ant Web site: http://fireants.tamu.edu/ or visit the University of Texas' fire ant Web site: http://web.biosci.utexas.edu/fireant/index.html.
Pest management specialist Scott Ludwig recently released a new fire ant-killing fly into the wild at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton, in East Texas. The flies lay eggs inside the fire ants which grow in the head of the's actions before killing them.
“Now this is what environmentalists should be spending their time on. Finding forms of nature that destroy other forms of nature that are inconvienent to man.”
—Hank Hill
Hasn't any progress been made?
Scott Ludwig even looks like Dale Gribble. Good grief!
Great, now we’ll have weird fly problems.
And didn’t Hank Hill try this on King of the Hill (Dale thwarted the effort because he works as an exterminator)
The democratic party strategy exposed at last.
O.K. This can’t get out of control!
So, what happens when the food source for the flies is eliminated?
Sounds like something we’ll be reading about, oh, say 10 years or so from now.
Imagine sitting there on your back patio, enjoying a hot dog fresh off the grill. Your kids are playing on the swing set. Your cute little doggie wonders over, wagging his cute little tail, and, POW!!!, his head explodes and a giant fly comes out.
Great, goa’ld flies.
>> The democratic party strategy exposed at last.
LOL! You beat me to it.
I was going to say “sounds like what happens to a student in the school of journalism of a major university”, but same idea.
I love it when great minds think alike. :)
Interesting post. Thanks.
How many flies would it take to kill one fire ant nest? Thousands?
I see another man made unintended consequence on the horizon.
Next up -- dogs and cats living together...
It's shocking I tell ya!
Same here, I was looking for the progress since then.
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