Abstract
The ghost ant (GA), Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fabricius, 1793), is one of the most common invasive species of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the world. While in its native tropical region it is both an ordinary indoor and outdoor pest, it occurs only indoors in the temperate zone, where increasingly more records of this species have been published since 1887. In this study, the current distribution of GA in Europe, including the new records published since Wetterer (2009), is reviewed. Furthermore, we report the first record of GA in the Czech Republic, where a large colony of GA was discovered in a block of flats in Ceske Budějovice in 2014, and present a case study of its eradication. The revised distribution of GA shows that despite previous concerns about the threats posed by this new pest only three other European countries (including Czech Republic) reported the presence of this species after 2009. Although GA is currently documented as occurring in 18 European countries, which were invaded mainly after 1990, there is only a single (or dubious) record for ten of these countries. Abundance of workers was monitored in two flats in an infested building using traps baited with yolk-honey and GA were subsequently eradicated with imidacloprid (0.01% w/w). The pre-treatment revealed abundances that ranged up to 524 workers per trap (mean = 99, S.D. = 142, 80% of baits occupied). Despite the initial success of the treatment (no ants observed after 3 weeks), monitoring of the building a year later revealed it was still infested with GA and in a similar rate. We suggest alternative methods of eradicating GA in the temperate zone based on studies carried out in the tropics. Our study indicates the difficulty of eradicating the species from buildings when its colony is already established. Furthermore, it highlights the bias in the discovery-probability of GA as a household pest probably due to the species cryptic appearance and lack of attention to it outside of the scientific community.
Highlights
Many organisms have spread beyond their native ranges during past centuries with the rise of globalization and word-wide trade and have become established in new areas (Shigesada & Kawasaki, 1997; Vaes-Petignat & Nentwig, 2014)
Some species of ants occur in areas with a cold climate where they survive as indoor pests of humans and are a public health risk and damage food, e.g. the pharaoh ant Monomorium pharaonis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Beatson, 1972; Frouz et al, 2009)
We focus on the invasive ant Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fabricius, 1793), revise its current distribution in Europe and investigate a case of infested block of flats by the species
Summary
Many organisms have spread beyond their native ranges during past centuries with the rise of globalization and word-wide trade and have become established in new areas (Shigesada & Kawasaki, 1997; Vaes-Petignat & Nentwig, 2014). Ants are some of the most numerous and ecologically important animals in the world and occur in most terrestrial biomes from the tropics to the arctic zone (Lach et al, 2010). The argentine ant Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868) occurs throughout the tropics even extending into the Mediterranean region (Giraud et al, 2002). The key features that determine the ability of these species of ants to spread successfully to new areas are still being debated, but usually involve a combination of ecological and genetic characters such as polydomy, unicoloniality, resilience to (or benefit from) disturbance, low genetic variation and the ability to outcompete other species (Giraud et al, 2002; King & Tschinkel, 2008; Lach et al, 2010). Considerable effort and resources have been invested in eradicating these species of ants with varying degrees of success (Hoffmann et al, 2010)
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