In so far as they affect us at all, most ants are little more than nuisances in kitchen or garden. However, the imported fire ants of the South bite viciously and in dangerously large numbers when a colony is disturbed. Individual workers can sting repeatedly, and companies may attack at once. The stings produce an intense burning sensation, later blistering and forming a white pustule.

Fire ants generally live in large, heavily crusted earthen mounds that may be eighteen inches high and contain over 100,000 workers. Unfortunately, they can also take up residence in house walls or under cracked pavement.

Although some imported fire ants are black, the most common are reddish-brown. As with other ants, males and most workers live no more than a few weeks, but queens can live up to seven years. Only males and females (during the mating period) have wings.

Larvae develop in six to ten days, then "pupate", to emerge two weeks later as adults. Since there may be more than one queen per colony and mature queens can lay 800 eggs a day, numbers can expand rapidly. New colonies can "hive off" from the mother colony and appear to be established in no more than a few days.

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