I remember and old science fiction movie in which the tension builds because the “professor” is standing in the track of Godzilla but does not see it because it is so big. That is the way it is with ant hills here in San Miguel and Bilbo and I have paid the price for our inattention. I was throwing Bilbo his ball when he let out a yelp. As I bent over to see what was bothering him, I felt the first sting on the back of my legs, followed by another on my ankle. We both began to dance around with me flapping at my clothes. I glanced down and saw that the ground beneath our feet was teeming with ants about ½ inch long. We danced home, I changed my clothes and then we returned to explore.
Alicia was on the road walking her dogs and told me about the ant hills. First, they are huge – about 12 feet across. She pointed out that someone had built a fire in the center of the hill Bilbo and I had been standing on to smoke the ants out, but clearly this had had only a temporary impact. Today they were marching about in their millions. I investigated further and found that the red fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is native to South America, is very aggressive, especially during the rainy season, and now is resident in large parts of the south east and west of the United States. The colonies (“mounds”) can contain 10–100 or more queens, which each lay up to 800 eggs per day. After 7–10 days, the eggs hatch into larvae, which develop over a 6–10-day period before pupating. After another 9–15 days, the adult emerges from the pupa. The colony has about 500000 members, and they were all out when Bilbo and I stepped into them!
We now are more observant about where we play ball and are glad the ants are not any bigger than they are! When you visit, I will make sure you don't wander into the curious ant hills of San Miguel.
No comments:
Post a Comment