Myrmecomania

This press release from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign describes a recently published study by Suarez et al. concerning the establishment of non-native ants in the US. From about 6 decades of port records, the authors estimated that over 230 species of ants were introduced to the continental US, and of these, 28 species (12%) have become established. Nesting preferences seem to be one of the deciding factors in the ants' success or failure: species that were less picky about their habitat were more likely to become expatriates. Be sure to click on the thumbnails in the press release so you can see the beautiful, full-size macro shots of the ants.