Prevalence and impact of the microsporidium Thelohania solenopsae (Microsporidia) on wild populations of red imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta, in Louisiana

Loss of microbial (pathogen) infections associated with recent invasions of the red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta

“…Several studies also have suggested a possible role of the release from natural enemies in the success of invasive ant species (McGlynn 1999;Holway et al 2002), which include some of the world's most damaging invasive pests. Among these, the fire ant Solenopsis invicta is arguably the most well studied invasive ant, and several lines of evidence are consistent with the ERH in explaining the success of this invasive ant in its introduced range in the US.…”

Microsporidia Biological Control Agents and Pathogens of Beneficial Insects

“…In contrast, colonies with only a single queen (monogyne) are territorial with minimal intercolony interactions. K. solenopsae is more prevalent in polygyne S. invicta populations, although it can be found in monogyne colonies (Oi et al 2004;Valles & Briano 2004;Fuxa et al 2005a;Milks et al 2008). The preponderance of K. solenopsae infections in polygyne colonies has been attributed to the nonterritorial behavior which permits movement of infected ants between colonies.…”

The Fire Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Pathogen,Vairimorpha invictae(Microsporidia: Burenellidae), Not Detected in Florida

“…Polygyny has been associated with higher incidences of pathogen infections in S. invicta (Valles et al 2010). While it is conceivable that the roadside habitats that were predominantly sampled may not be conducive to V. invictae infections, another fire ant infecting microsporidium, K. solenopsae, was detected in 14.5% (147/1016) of the samples, which is within the 10-31% prevalence reported for K. solenopsae in surveys in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas (Streett et al 2004;Mitchell et al 2006, Milks et al 2008. Thus, our methods, which were similar to procedures used to detect both microsporidia in South America Briano et al 1995), should have been sufficient to detect V. invictae in the Florida survey.…”

“…Interestingly, subsequent examination of archived S. invicta specimens revealed that K. solenopsae had been present in Texas since the 1980s . Surveys for K. solenopsae have been conducted in Florida, Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, with no reports of V. invictae detection (Pereira et al 2002;Streett et al 2004;Mitchell et al 2006;Milks et al 2008). However, the focus of these surveys was toward K. solenopsae.…”