Abstract
Individual fire ants, Solenopsis invicta Buren, were marked with dots of Markal brand Ball Point Paint Markers. Marked ants were returned to the colony while the paint was still wet. The marks were slowly lost over a 100-day period, with one mark lasting 119 days. No mortality could be attributed to the paint. The proportion of ants retaining marks over time can be expressed as a simple exponential decay model: proportion with marks = 0.7665 * exp (-0.0175 * time in days). The technique will be useful in assessing basic behavioral characteristics, such as polygyne versus monogyne interactions, nestmate discrimination, foraging profiles, and in assessing impact of candidate biological control organisms on behavior and survivorship of fire ants.
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