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Killer ants is a term to describe any of several species of ants that are predatory, attack en masse when their mounds are disturbed, and can kill animals many times their size, even deer if they are immobilized. They have been called the fiercest predators on Earth. Predator ants kill more individuals than all the big predators combined.
The most commonly cited example of killer ants are the Red Imported Fire Ants (RIFA, IFA, Solenopsis invicta). Binomial name Solenopsis invicta Santschi, 1916 The Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta), or simply fire ant, is one of the 266 species of stinging ant in the widespread genus Solenopsis. ...
Other kinds of killer ants include:
| Name | Range | Comments | | The first two entries are velvet ants (all ants are related to wasps, but velvet ants really are wasps). Reference (http://ag.arizona.edu/urbanipm/insects/bees/velvetants.html) Mutillidae Categories: Animal stubs | Vespoidea ...
| | Velvet Ants: Cow killers (Dasymutilla occidentalis) | Eastern USA | A fanciful name; they cannot kill animals as large as cows. | | Velvet Ants: Red velvet ants (Dasymusilla magnifica) | Western USA | | | Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) | Argentina, Southern Europe, Southern USA, California | Very small, attack mostly other ants. The main supercolony (Italy, Atlantic coast of Spain) is said to be the largest cooperating ant population in the World. | | Pharaoh ants (Monomorium pharaonis) | Worldwide | In February 2000, an invasion of Pharaoh ants terrorized office workers in Berlin, Germany. | | Red harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) The red harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) is a large (5mm - 7mm) ant common in the southwest United States. ...
| Western USA | Bright red myrmicine ants whose venom has the highest relative azoicity of any ants species. Images (http://www.tightloop.com/ants/pogbar.htm) | | Bulldog ants (Soldier ants, Genus Myrmecia) | Australia | They are said to be repelled by yellow objects. Belonging to the subfamily Myrmecinae, these are the most primitive extant ants. All but one of the three score or so species are found in Australia. The Myrmecinae is a subfamily in the Formicidae. ...
| | Bullet ants (Paraponera clavata) Paraponera F. Smith, 1858 is a genus of ponerine ants (in)famous for its sole species, the so-called bullet ant, , named on account of its most powerful and potent sting, the sensation of which has often been likened with that of being shot with a bullet by those who...
| range? | Bullet ants, and their close relatives of the genus Dinoponera are New World ponerines. This article is in need of attention. ...
| | Honeypot ants (genus Myrmecocystus) Honeypot ants are ants which are gorged with food by workers, to the point that their abdomens swell enormously. ...
| range? | (It is claimed that these are really harmless ants. An expert opinion is needed.) M. mendax is rather attractively coloured and diurnal, whereas the darker species such as M. californicus tend to be more active during the night. | | Legionnaires / Amazon ants (Polyergus breviceps) | range? | Polyergus are most interesting southern boreal obligate dulotes of the Formicinae subfamily. Their host is, like a similar convergent species, Formica sanguinea, ants of the Formica fusca group. Although absent from the British Isles, Polyergus rufescens is present on the continent, and many observations of its behaviour were made by Forel. Like the unrelated British-found parasite to tetramorium caespitum, Strongylodus testaceus (first discovered in Britain by Horace Donisthorpe), the Legionnaires display greatly adapted, strongly falcate mandibles, which they use for piercing the heads of F. fusca et. al. during raids. The British Isles consist of Great Britain, Ireland and a number of much smaller surrounding islands. ...
There are communes in Switzerland that have the name Forel: Forel, swiss commune in the canton of Freiburg Forel is a commune in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, located in the district of Lavaux. ...
A parasite is an organism that lives in or on the living tissue of a host organism at the expense of that host. ...
Horace Donisthorpe in front of the Watch oak in Great Windsor park surrounded by a group of Crown Estate Officers, September 15, 1928 Horace St. ...
| | Yellow crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes) Binomial name Anoplolepis gracilipes F.Smith, 1857 The Yellow Crazy Ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes) is a species of ant which has been introduced accidentally to northern Australia and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, becoming a pest in both locations. ...
| range? | Kill red crabs on Christmas Island, and generally destroy the ecosystem for the other 17 species of terrestrial crab found there, including the largest terrestrial invertebrate in the known world. | | New World Army ants (Eciton spp.) | South America, Southern Mexico | See below; Reference (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/eciton/e._burchelli%24narrative.html) The New World army ants have recently been separated from the Dorylinae. | | Driver ants (Subfamily Dorylinae) Driver ants is the term commonly applied to ants of the subfamily Dorylinae. ...
| The Old world, esp. West Africa and the Congo Basin | See below. | Army and Driver ants appear to be the most dangerous of the killer ants. Driver ants can reduce a tethered cow to polished bone in several weeks. A few cases of human deaths (inebriated or infant) have been reported.
Unlike the army ants of the New World, Old World army ants lack a functional sting, but this is more than compensated for by their razor-sharp, falcate mandibles. Dorylus spp. colonies also reach larger sizes than Eciton. Species See article. ...
Pictures These images are copyrighted as indicated, and are used by permission (see Talk page for details) from the author, Bart Drees, Director, Texas Imported Fire Ant Project, Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University.
Many more images like these can be seen at their Fire Ant Web site (Home Page (http://fireant.tamu.edu/), Photos (http://fireant.tamu.edu/materials/graphics/photo/photo.html)).
| Cow killer ants
©Bart Drees | | | Crazy ants
©Bart Drees Cow killer ant See Talk page for copyright permission details This work is copyrighted. ...
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 Crazy ant See Talk page for copyright permission details File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
| | Pharaoh ants
©Bart Drees |
 Pharaoh ant See Talk page for copyright permission details File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
| | Red Harvester ants
©Bart Drees |
 Red harvester ant See Talk page for copyright permission details File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
| | Red Imported Fire Ants
©Bart Drees |
 Red Imported Fire Ant See Talk page for copyright permission details File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
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See also The term killer bees can have many meanings: The killer bee is another name for the Africanized bee, as a result of their aggressively defensive behavior. ...
Binomial name Solenopsis invicta Santschi, 1916 The Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta), or simply fire ant, is one of the 266 species of stinging ant in the widespread genus Solenopsis. ...
Subfamilies Formicomorph subfamilies Aneuretinae Dolichoderinae Formicinae - e. ...
Killer ants in popular culture You may be looking for horror movies or books involving fanciful killing ants. These include: - Them! (1954)
- The Naked Jungle (1954)
- The Monolith Monsters (1957)
- Phase IV (1973)
- The Deadly Invasion (1973)
- Ants (1977 - TV movie)
- Empire of the Ants (1977 - movie and novel) Based on a story by H.G. Wells.
- The Nest (1987) Killer cockroaches
- Arachnophobia (1990) Killer spiders
- Attack of the Killer Ants (1996 - novel)
- Legion of Fire: Killer Ants! (1998 - TV movie)
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