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
Toxicology of red imported fire ant venom most common maintenance dose is 0.5 mL of a 1:200 (wt/vol) dilution. During the build-up phase, it is recommended that dosing is given weekly or biweekly, although some scientists suggest that rush protocols can be successful. It is recommended that patients going through immunotherapy receive treatment for three to five years, and lifelong therapy, although there is no consensus as to how long an individual should be treated. The stings of the red imported fire ant in animals are painful, and may prove life-threatening. In dogs, stings from the red imported fire ant can cause pustular dermatosis, a condition where