Bait acceptance and seasonal activity of the Asian needle ant, Brachyponera (=Pachycondyla) chinensis Emery, an emerging medically important species in Central Georgia

The Asian needle ant, is an invasive ant that inhabits our hardwood forests in the southern states. These ants have a negative ecological impact on mature temperate forests. This ant fauna eliminates the native species or reduces their abundance. Therefore, significant roles, such as seed dispersal and predation of forest pests, are unfilled. B. chinensis can pose a public health threat due to their ability to sting. There is no formal effective management plan to control B. chinensis. I developed three objectives to determine bait efficiency, bait preference, and seasonal activity for B. chinensis.

Objectives include (1) bait preference field and lab trials to evaluate the acceptance rate of four commercial baits: Advance® 375 A, granular bait (0.011% abamectin), Advion® Insect Granule bait (0.22% indoxacarb), Niban® Granular bait (5% orthoboric acid), Advion® Fire Ant (0.045%indoxacarb). I designed this assay so Asian needle ants would eventually encounter a bait granule while foraging. (2) In field bait efficiency trials, I constructed a twenty-plot transect to establish whether B. chinensis carries the bait to the colonies under field conditions. I bated each plot with one of the four baits and a control. (3) Pitfall traps to establish the seasonal abundance of B. chinensis with native ant taxa.