Fire ant queens. Even if only one queen survives, within a month or so, the colony can expand to thousands of individuals. Some colonies may be polygynous (having multiple queens per nest). Fire ants are resilient and can survive floods. During Hurricane Harvey in Texas in 2017, clumps of fire ants, known as rafts, were seen clumped together on the surface of the water. Each clump had as many as 100,000 individual ants, which formed a temporary structure until finding a new permanent home. Fire ant queens, the reproductive females in their colony, also are generally the largest. Their primary function is
Red imported fire ant recommended because they can be harmful to humans and the environment. Websites Media News coverage Red imported fire ant The red imported fire ant ("Solenopsis invicta"), also known as the fire ant or RIFA, is a species of ant native to South America. A member of the genus "Solenopsis" in the subfamily Myrmicinae, it was described by Swiss entomologist Felix Santschi as a variant in 1916. Its current name "invicta" was given to the ant in 1972 as a separate species. However, the variant and species were the same ant, and the name was preserved due to its wide use.