MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII -- The Hawaii Department of Agriculture is working with a coalition of partners to locate, test for, map, treat, manage and inspect the infestation of little fire ants statewide.
The LFA, or wasmannia auropunctata, is a relatively new, invasive, stinging ant that can infest yards, houses, farms and forests. They spread everywhere, damaging crops, and compromising food production and economy.
Evelyn Wight, the senior communications manager for The Nature Conservancy, said the fire ant population is low enough that it’s still possible to stop – or at least slow – its spread around the islands.
“It is native to South America and was found on Hawaii in 1999,” Wight said. “Since then, it has been slowly spreading around (the Big Island of Hawaii) and more recently to the other islands. The Hawaii Invasive Species Council, Invasive Species Committees, HDOA and other partners have made it a priority to attempt to stop the spread of these ants.”
Wight said the fire ants reduce species diversity, as well as the overall abundance of flying and arboreal insects, and has even eliminated arachnid populations. She also said one of the biggest threats of the LFA is its potential impact on the quality of life in Hawaii.
“We are blessed with an environment that is largely free of stinging pests,” Wight said. “LFA could change that. In addition to infesting and harming forests, they can get into yards and homes; some people have even been stung in their beds.”
Erin Bishop, the outreach specialist for the Oahu Invasive Species Committee, said the ants are about a third of the size of tropical fire ants, being only about 1/16 inch long. She also said, unlike the tropical fire ants, the LFA prefer to live in shady, moist areas.
“LFA can live and nest on the ground or in trees,” Bishop said. “This is what makes control and eradication challenging. These ants can live in the top of a coconut palm and take many months before ever coming down to forage. (The LFA) don’t hang on very well, so a slight breeze or nudge will cause the ants to rain down on you, stinging as they get caught in clothing, hair or pinched between your skin.”
Bishop said the painful LFA stings could especially affect people with sensitive skin and existing allergies, oftentimes causing a rash to develop on the victim.
In an interview with the Maui Invasive Species Committee, Cas Vanderwoude, the research manager at the Hawaii Ant Lab, a project of the Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, said many people don’t realize it’s an insect that stung them because the stings are so small.
"For people who live a subsistence lifestyle, who live firmly connected with the land, who produce most of their own food and the things they need from their own land, they have to suffer the (crop and production) losses and there’s not a lot they can do about it,” Vanderwoude said. “Some of the people I talk to feel really trapped because they don’t have the ability, either financially or technically, to actually deal with these issues and it just adds an extra burden to their life.”
Wight said people have left land that has been in their family for generations because it was uninhabitable due to the establishment of the LFA in that area.
In pamphlets handed out from the HDOA, members of the community are encouraged to test the surrounding area for LFA. All that is needed is peanut butter, disposable chopsticks, zip-top bags and a marker.
First, place the sticks, with a thin smear of peanut butter, every few feet in and around plants in your yard or garden. People are encouraged to focus on shady, moist areas, the bottoms of pots and where plants’ leaves meet the stem. Then leave the sticks in place for one hour and check them without moving. The HDOA said to only collect the stick if the ants are uniformly red or orange and are very small, or if you are unsure about the ants.
Making sure the ants don’t fall off, place the stick with the ants into the bag and seal it. Label the bag with your name, address and phone number, and put it in your freezer overnight to kill the ants. Call the HDOA statewide pest hotline at 643-PEST to report that you might have LFA. Drop off or mail the sample to any HDOA office. HDOA will contact you when the ants are identified, so do not disturb the ants or treat the area, as this may possibly spread them further.
For more information about the LFA, visit www.littlefireants.com or www.LFAHawaii.org or hdoa.hawaii.gov/pi/main/lfainfo/.