RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

The London 2012 Olympic Games are in full competitive glory and world records in weightlifting, swimming and archery have been smashed. But how do the world's strongest animals, most accurate archers and champion boxers measure up? 

The remarkable achievements of one athlete have earned him the accolade of the most successful Olympian in history, after winning his 20th gold from three Games.

But are Michael Phelps and the other record-breaking Olympians any match for nature's best? BBC Nature has previously examined animal track and field stars, but other incredible feats have also been recorded.

Hossein Rezazadeh of Iran remains one of the greatest weightlifters of all time, lifting a mighty 263kg for a current clean and jerk world record.

But ants are also capable of some remarkable feats of strength for their diminutive size.

Remarkably, a leaf-cutter ant can carry a piece of leaf 50 times its own body weight. Could Hossein carry a van weighing over 2300kg?

Probably not.

So he would be even less happy going up against a rhinoceros beetle.

The male can lift an astonishing 850 times their body weight, or put another way, Hossein lifting six double-decker buses weighing over 8000kg.

But, the species to beat is a tiny mite that has been shown holding forces of up to 1180 times its weight and even pull 530 times its weight on a vertical surface.

These extraordinary invertebrates would get a well-deserved first place and gold medal.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Newly Deciphered Ant Genomes Offer Clues on Ant Social Life, Pest Control

An international team of scientists has decoded the genome of a persistent household pest -- the Argentine ant, an invasive species that is threatening native insects across the world. These findings could provide new insights on how embryos with the same genetic code develop into either queens or worker ants and may advance our understanding of invasion biology and pest control. Similar to bees, ants have sophisticated social structures. Queen ants typically have larger bodies, wings and fertile ovaries, and are responsible for reproduction in the colony. Worker ants are smaller, wingless and infertile, and are tasked with foraging for food and caring for the queen's offspring.

A better understanding of how larvae develop into queens or workers could support the development of new control methods that use more benign chemicals to limit the number of queens born in a colony, effectively sterilizing the population.

Source: Science News

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Thousands of ants in a kitchen would certainly constitute an “issue” for anyone. Why are they there? Most of the time it is a crumb or spilled food/drink of some type and the ants find it. In most cases it is a trail of ants but in this kitchen it was ant city! There were numerous large trails with thousands of ants! The source was some homemade honey in the pantry and the cover was open. As you can see hundreds of ants bit the dust trying to get a taste of the honey. It’s like honey quick sand!

(click image to enlarge)

Jon Hinthorne
Service Specialist
Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

(click to enlarge)

I work for a pest control company so these things should not freak me out, right? I am still a woman, mom, etc. My husband calls me a “girlie-girl”.

Doing stuff around the house on the weekend I move a tarp on my back deck and SCREAM in horror at the hundred and hundreds of ants under there. The ants were freaking out as well, not sure if it was due to my scream or the fact that I shed light on their hidden condo.

The picture is of a few dead ants but mostly all the ant pupae. They look like rice krispies! That is freakin awesome!

Melissa Charnitsky
Customer Care Specialist
Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

High School Football Game Postponed by Fire Ants on Field

Football games have been postponed by heavy rains, lightning, power outages: and now, fire ants.

A game in South Carolina was postponed Friday after the referee decided the field was unplayable because of fire ants. Referee Steve Hook says he found 15 to 20 large active fire ant mounds shortly before the game.

Hook says he was worried about players, coaches and officials. Bruce Hulion with the South Carolina High School League says officials properly handled the safety issue.

The home team, Hunter-Kinard-Tyler, tried digging up the ant piles and pouring salt on them before the game was postponed. One fan offered to bring fire-ant poison.

The field was deemed ready Monday night. Calhoun County beat the home team 19-8.

Source = Associated Press

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

One of the things people think about the coldest part of winter is, "at least it will kill the bugs." However, that is not true for all species.

Each species has its own life cycle characteristics, so the stage an insect overwinters in and how tolerant it is to temperature tells the true story.

Below are some examples of the area's more common insects and how they overwinter in Fairfield County.

Let's begin with the honey bee. The queen and sterile female workers overwinter in the hive. In spring, the eggs are laid, and the workers will feed the larvae and tend to the pupa. In late spring or summer, the fertile males and females appear, and the queen will leave the hive with a swarm of workers to start a new colony.

Bumblebees have hibernating queens that arrive in spring to establish underground colonies. Again, the workers -- all sterile females -- forage and tend to the larvae and pupae. Late in the season, males and young queens emerge, leave the nest and mate. Males, workers and the old queens die, with new queens overwintering to repeat the cycle.

The common house fly female lays her eggs in clusters on garbage or manure. Eggs hatch within a day, and the larvae mature in five days, pupate and emerge as adults in another five days. House flies produce many generations per year. That is why you will see adult flies in a sunny windowsill on warm winter days.

Fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, lay their eggs on the ground during warmer weather. The larvae become active, preying on snails and other small animals. The larvae then hibernate and enter the pupa stage. Adults will emerge the next summer. Fireflies produce only one generation per year.

An aphid's life cycle is variable. Eggs survive winter and hatch into wingless females that give birth to more wingless females, but no males. They then progress to a winged generation that moves to another host plant where more wingless females migrate back to the initial host plant. Finally, males are produced, mating occurs and eggs are laid.

Lastly is the dreaded mosquito. Their eggs are laid singly or in small clusters on water or damp ground prone to flooding. Wiggly larvae feed on tiny aquatic plants and animals, then molt into active pupae. The adult mosquito emerges at the water's surface from floating pupae. Mosquitoes have one or more generations per year.

This winter, it seems unlikely Fairfield County will experience extreme cold or even the annual spring thaw. Keep an eye on those insects as they emerge.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Ants Remember Their Enemy's Scent

Ant colonies - one of nature's most ancient and efficient societies - are able to form a "collective memory" of their enemies, say scientists.

When one ant fights with an intruder from another colony it retains that enemy's odor, passing it on to the rest of the colony. This enables any of its nest-mates to identify an ant from the offending colony.

The findings are reported in the journal Naturwissenschaften.

For many ant species, chemicals are key to functioning as a society. Insects identify their nest-mates by the specific "chemical signature" that coats the body of every member of that nest.

The insects are also able to sniff out any intruder that might be attempting to invade.

This study, carried out by a team from the University of Melbourne in Australia, set out to discover if ants were able to retain memories of the odors they encounter.

The researchers studied the tropical weaver ant (Oecophylla smaragdina), which builds is home in trees; one nest can contain up to 500,000 workers.

The team set up a "familiarization test" to allow ants from one nest to encounter intruders from another.

Over a series of trials, they placed an ant from a "focal nest" into a tiny observation arena with an ant from another nest.

After 15 of these familiarizing face-offs, the team set up a fake ant invasion. They placed 20 worker ants from the now "familiar" nest on or near the focal nest.

"These intruders were typically attacked by the resident workers," the researchers reported in their paper.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Did you know that an ant's abdomen contains two stomachs?! One stomach holds food for itself while the other one contains food to be shared with other ants.

Here's a few more cool ant facts:

• Ants have 250,000 brain cells while humans have 10,000 million.
• Combined weights of ants on earth is more than the combined weight of humans.
• Ants began farming about 50 million years before humans thought to raise their own crops.
• Ants rarely fight but when they do fight it is a fight to death most of the time.
• Ants often sleep seven hours a day, while a type of ant i.e. fire ant takes about 250 naps each day.
• The legs of the ant are very strong so they can run very quickly. If a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Termites and Carpenter Ants Drove Tiger's Ex to Demolish $12 Million Mansion

Finally, an explanation why Elin Nordegren, Tiger Woods' ex-wife, bulldozed the $12 million oceanfront mansion she bought only last year.

Her builder told People magazine the 17,000 foot, six bedroom home in North Palm Beach, Fla. wasn't built to code to withstand Florida hurricanes. To top it off, Habitat for Humanity found the place was crawling with termites and carpenter ants. So it made more sense structurally and economically to tear it down and start over with a new home.

The 32-year-old Nordegren, who's living nearby with her and Woods' two children, invited the charity to salvage tens of thousands of dollars worth of cabinets, hardware and fixtures before sending in the wrecking crew. Said Habitat's director of deconstruction, Bobbi Blodgett: When we pulled out the windows, the bugs were everywhere... To rebuild that house would have been ridiculous. We're so grateful to Elin. It's rare we get this kind of donation.

Nordegren got $100 million in her divorce from Woods so she can afford it. She never shared the demolished mansion with Woods, who recently appeared as an honorary captain for his alma mater Stanford at the Fiesta Bowl.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Click on image to enlarge

What are you looking at in this picture???

It is a ton of ants inside a mailbox! Imagine going to get your mail, a normal daily occurrence. This time you feel something all over your hands and when you look at your hand and mail you have a HEEBIE JEEBIE reaction with associated scream then you drop your mail. A few more convulsing twitches because you feel like they are still on you and then the whole incident is over……almost. You swat the remaining ants off the mail, grab your cell phone, and call your husband to complain about the ants.

“You are a friggin entomologist….why the heck are their ants all over our mailbox???!!!” By now you have figured out that I am the person she is talking to, this is my mailbox, and the woman is my wife Jackie. See, I get to take my work home with me! I spot baited the mailbox with some ant gel when I got home and they were gone the next day. I’m sure this is not the end of it…….

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA