As the weather warms up, red fire ants enter the active stage. Red fire ants are a kind of invasive insect that poses a serious threat to agricultural and forestry production, human health and ecosystems in the invaded areas, and was once known as "the strongest invasive insect on the surface".
Morphology of red fire ant worker ants under the microscope. Xinhua News Agency (Photo courtesy of the Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences)
The man was bitten by red fire ants and went into shock
Recently, when a man in Shixing County, Shaoguan, Guangdong Province went home to sweep the grave, he was accidentally bitten by red fire ants, and his limbs were weak and difficult to walk on the spot.
The man was in shock when he was taken to the hospital, but fortunately he was rescued in time and has now recovered and returned to work.
The red fire ant and our common ants belong to the ant family, but it is an alien invasive insect that likes to nest in farmland, woodland, lawns, green spaces, and even near lakes, fish ponds and other waters. If you accidentally disturb the red fire ant nest in the wild, you will face a large number of brave worker ants pouring out of the nest and quickly climbing up your legs, arms and other parts.
When a human being bitten by a red fire ant is bitten, it will feel like a fire. In general, most people only feel pain and discomfort, while a few people are severely allergic to proteins such as the proteins in the venom, and can experience fever, temporary blindness, vomiting, shock, and even death.
Zhang Lei, researcher at the Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: If you are accidentally bitten by red fire ants, you must not take it lightly. If possible, you should use soapy water or water to quickly clean the wound, and you can apply some allergy soothing drugs such as steroids, so that the pain and itching are not so strong. However, if you have a fever or difficulty breathing, you must go to the hospital in time.
In addition to its ferocious habits, red fire ants have complex feeding habits, seeds, plants, insects, vertebrates, and even wire skins are its food, and it is very competitive, and it is very easy to form high-density populations in newly invaded areas, which may cause serious harm to agricultural and forestry production, human health, public safety and ecological environment. As a result, it is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as one of the 100 most devastating invasive species in the world.
Guangdong has the largest occurrence area of red fire ants
The province with the most severe hazard
It is understood that Guangdong is the province with the largest occurrence area and the most serious damage of red fire ants, and it is most active from March to May and September to November every year. In Yunfu City alone, 4.47 million yuan was spent on the prevention and control of red fire ants last year. However, due to the biological characteristics of red fire ants, the risk of spread is still high.
Xu Yiyi, professor at the Red Fire Ant Research Center of South China Agricultural University: Some newly built turf, green belts and other places (red fire ants) may have more. Due to the relatively long invasion time, there are also some wastelands, even farmlands and orchards.
Planning and production
Source: CCTV News