Solenopsis Invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Lesser Antilles

The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, is one of the most notorious ants in the world due to its powerful sting. Originally from South America, S. invicta arrived in North America by ship sometime before 1945 and has spread across the U.S. from Texas to North Carolina in the southeast and California in the west, particularly in open disturbed areas, causing ecological and economic damage (Buren et al. 1974; Tschinkel 1993). The earliest known records of S. invicta in the West Indies are from Puerto Rico (first found in 1981) and the Virgin Islands (1988), where it is now widespread on many islands (Buren 1982; Davis et al. 2001; Wetterer & Snelling 2006). More recently, S. invicta has been reported from other island groups in the West Indies, including the Bahamas (1993), Trinidad (2000), Antigua (2000), and Providenciales (2001) (Davis et al. 2001; Wetterer & Snelling 2006). In the present study, we evaluated the distribution of S. invicta in the Lesser Antilles. In May 2006, May-Jul 2007, and May-Jun 2008, JKW surveyed ants on the 15 largest islands of the Lesser Antilles (from north to south): Anguilla, St. Martin, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, and Barbados. JKW collected on each island, using visual search, vegetation beating and leaf-litter sifting in a wide diversity of habitats.