Abstract
In the past decade, Houston, Texas has been virtually overrun by an unidentified ant species, the sudden appearance and enormous population sizes and densities of which have received national media attention. The Rasberry Crazy Ant, as it has become known due to its uncertain species status, has since spread to neighboring states and is still a major concern to pest control officials. Previous attempts at identifying this species have resulted in widely different conclusions in regards to its native range, source, and biology. We identify this highly invasive pest species as Nylanderia fulva (Mayr) using morphometric data measured from 14 characters, molecular sequence data consisting of 4,669 aligned nucleotide sites from six independent loci and comparison with type specimens. This identification will allow for the study and control of this emerging pest species to proceed unencumbered by taxonomic uncertainty. We also show that N. fulva has a much wider distribution than previously thought and has most likely invaded all of the Gulf Coast states.
Highlights
Invasive pest species are a major cause and consequence of human-mediated global change and one of the major challenges facing human agriculture and biodiversity conservation [1,2,3]
Occurrence records for the Rasberry Crazy Ant (RCA) and N. cf. pubens in the United States were taken from Hooper-Bui [25], Figure 1
We identify the nominal species of the RCA using morphometric and DNA sequence data
Summary
Invasive pest species are a major cause and consequence of human-mediated global change and one of the major challenges facing human agriculture and biodiversity conservation [1,2,3]. Since its detection in Harris County, Texas, the new invasive has rapidly expanded its range and is found in 21 counties in southeast Texas (http://urbanentomology.tamu.edu/ants/ exotic_tx.cfm) and has recently been discovered from southwestern Mississippi [24] and Louisiana [25] (Fig. 1). Despite widespread attention, this invasive species has not been clearly identified [24]. We describe a reliable and visible distinguishing morphological character to aid in identification of N. fulva and N. pubens based on comparison with the type material
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