Pesky flies keep Asian mosquitoes in check

A Florida midge munches down Asian tiger mosquitoes more so than native ones, researchers say, maybe because the foreign larvae wiggles more in the water.


Whatever the reason, the result is fewer of the more aggressive mosquito and the nasty human diseases it harbors.

A midge larva, right, snacks on an Asian tiger mosquito larva. Researchers say this helps keep the foreign mosquito, which carries viral diseases, in check. (University of Florida

"It is positive because this invasive mosquito is much more dangerous from a public health standpoint," said Phil Lounibos, an entomologist with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in Vero Beach.

He and Steven Juliano, an entomologist at Illinois State University, published their findings in the journal Oecologia.

Asian tiger mosquitoes spread dengue, which causes high fever, bladder problems, headaches, eye pain, extreme dizziness and loss of appetite.

They also spread Chikungunya, another viral

disease marked by joint pain that can last weeks, months or even years.

The Asian tiger mosquito gained a stronger foothold in Florida and elsewhere in the 1980s, when the United States began importing large numbers of used tires from Asia. Its eggs and larvae traveled here in the water inside the tires.

Entomologists expected the more aggressive Asian pest to drive the native mosquito to near extinction. That probably wouldn't matter to most Floridians, but it is important to scientists and others committed to importance of biodiversity.

Nature's defense

Given the midge's merits, mosquito controllers should try to spare the fly, the researchers said, lest they lose one of their best defenses against the Asian tiger mosquito.

"What we're observing is how a native, rather obscure midge can provide a natural biocontrol," Lounibos said.

Current mosquito-spraying methods kill some order of midges, the researchers said, but the extent is unknown.

They suggest more study of how predator-prey relationships help control such pests, as a possible alternative to spraying.

"I'm not saying that spraying for the native mosquitoes or other pest control efforts aren't necessary," Juliano said in a media release. "But it's important to understand that there is a balance, and that you can't tweak one aspect of nature without affecting many others.

"We owe it to ourselves to try to understand that balance."

DIY Rat Control? Check your traps often or this happens.....

DIY Rodent Control..Is it for you?

A new customer told me that he checked the rat traps all the time and kept them fresh so he would catch other rat's that entered his attic. The problem is, he still had rat's!

"Looks like its been awhile since he checked his traps, lol"

If your going to Do It Yourself, check your traps or let a professional do it!

Common House Ants Form Supercolonies, Prosper in Urban Settings

(Mar. 31, 2010) — One of the most common house ant species might have been built for living in some of the smallest spaces in a forest, but the ants have found ways to take advantage of the comforts of city living.

Grzegorz Buczkowski discovered odorous house ants living in supercolonies, creating complex networks entomologists have never seen with the species before now. (Credit: Purdue Agricultural Communication photo/Tom Campbell)

Grzegorz Buczkowski, a Purdue University research assistant professor of entomology, found that odorous house ant colonies become larger and more complex as they move from forest to city and act somewhat like an invasive species. The ants live about 50 to a colony with one queen in forest settings but explode into supercolonies with more than 6 million workers and 50,000 queens in urban areas.

"This is a native species that's doing this," said Buczkowski, whose results are published in the early online version of the journal Biological Invasions. "Native ants are not supposed to become invasive. We don't know of any other native ants that are outcompeting other species of native ants like these."

Odorous house ants live in hollow acorn shells in the forest. They're called odorous because they have a coconut- or rum-like smell when crushed. They're considered one of the most common house ants.

In semi-natural areas that are a cross of forest and urban areas, such as a park, Buczkowski said he observed colonies of about 500 workers with a single queen. He said it's possible that as the ants get closer to urban areas they have easier access to food, shelter and other resources.

"In the forest, they have to compete for food and nesting sites," Buczkowski said. "In the cities, they don't have that competition. People give them a place to nest, a place to eat."

Buczkowski observed the ants in three different settings on and around the Purdue campus. He said it might be expected that if the odorous house ants were able to multiply into complex colonies, other ants would do the same.

But Buczkowski found no evidence that other ants had adapted to new environments and evolved into larger groups as the odorous house ants have. He said it's possible that odorous house ants are better adapted to city environments than other ant species or that they had somehow outcompeted or dominated other species.

"This raises a lot of questions we'd like to answer," he said.

Buczkowski said understanding why the supercolonies form could lead to better control of the pests in homes, as well as ensuring that they don't outcompete beneficial species.

Future studies on odorous house ants will include studying the ant's genetics and trying to understand the effects of urbanization of odorous house ants.