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Physiology

Geographical range and dispersal

Diet
Reproduction

Mutualism

In Australia

Impact on Christmas Island

Toggle Impact on Christmas Island subsection

Supercolonies

Control measures

References

External links

Yellow crazy ant

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with the longhorn crazy ant (Paratrechina longicornis) or the

Rasberry crazy ant (Nylanderia fulva).

Anoplolepis gracilipes
Scientific classification

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Hymenoptera

Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae

Genus: Anoplolepis

Species: A. gracilipes

Binomial name

Anoplolepis gracilipes

F. Smith, 1857

Synonyms

Formica longipes
Plagiolepis longipes
[1]
Anoplolepis longipes
The yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes), also known as the long-legged ant

or Maldive ant, is a species of ant, thought to be native to West Africa or Asia. They

[2][3]
have been accidentally introduced to numerous places in the world's tropics.

The yellow crazy ant has colloquially been given the modifier "crazy" on account of

the ant's erratic movements when disturbed. Its long legs and antennae make it one

[1][4]
of the largest invasive ant species in the world.

Like several other invasive ants, such as the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis

invicta), the big-headed ant (Pheidole megacephala), the little fire ant (Wasmannia

auropunctata), and the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile), the yellow crazy ant is a

"tramp ant", a species that easily becomes established and dominant in new habitat

due to traits such as aggression toward other ant species, little aggression toward

[5]
members of its own species, efficient recruitment, and large colony size.

It is on a list of "one hundred of the world's worst invasive species" formulated by the

[6]
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), having invaded ecosystems

from Hawaii to the Seychelles, and formed supercolonies on Christmas Island in the

[7]
Indian Ocean.

In 2023, a scientific article postulated a unique reproductive cycle for A. gracilipes,

[8]
suggesting that males are obligate chimeras.
 Physiology[edit]

Anoplolepis gracilipes is a relatively large, yellow to orange ant with long legs, large

eyes and extremely long antennal scapes.

Although A. gracilipes is the only invasive species in the genus Anoplolepis, there

are several other genera for which it can be mistaken. Both Leptomyrmex and

Oecophylla can be confused with Anoplolepis because of their similar sizes and very

long limbs. Anoplolepis can be distinguished from Leptomyrmex by the presence of

an acidopore, while Anoplolepis can be distinguished from Oecophylla by the more

compact petiole. Although both of these genera occur in the Pacific, neither contain

any invasive species.

Several species of invasive ants belonging to the genera Camponotus and

Paratrechina can appear similar to A. gracilipes. Although several invasive species

of Pheidole can also be slender-bodied with long legs and long antennal scapes,

they can be separated from A. gracilipes by their two-segmented waists.

A. gracilipes is widespread across the tropics, and populations are especially dense

in the Pacific region. The species is most infamous for causing the ecological

[9][7]
"meltdown" of Christmas Island. Although widespread across the Pacific, A.

gracilipes can cause significant damage to native biological diversity. Strong

quarantine measures are encouraged to keep it from spreading to new localities.

A dead gecko being dragged by yellow crazy ants in India

The yellow crazy ant's natural habitats are the moist tropical lowlands of Southeast

[10]
Asia, and surrounding areas and islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It has

been introduced into a wide range of tropical and subtropical environments including

northern Australia, some of the Caribbean islands, some Indian Ocean islands

(Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, the Cocos Islands and the Christmas

[7]
Islands) and some Pacific islands (New Caledonia, Hawaii, French Polynesia,

[11]
Okinawa, Vanuatu, Micronesia, Johnston Atoll, and the Galapagos archipelago).

[12]
The species has been known to occupy such agricultural systems as cinnamon,

citrus, coffee and coconut plantations. Because yellow crazy ants have generalized

nesting habits, they are able to disperse via trucks, boats and other forms of human

[1]
transport.
 Crazy ant colonies naturally disperse through "budding", i.e. when mated queens

and workers leave the nest to establish a new one, and only rarely through flight via

female winged reproductive forms. Generally, colonies that disperse through budding

have a lower rate of dispersal, requiring human intervention to reach distant areas. It

has been recorded that A. gracilipes moves as much as 400 m (1,300 ft) a year in

[11]
the Seychelles. A survey on Christmas Island, however, yielded an average

spreading speed of 3 meters (9.8 ft) per day, the equivalent of one kilometer (0.6

[13]
mile) per year.

Diet[edit]

A. gracilipes (yellow crazy ants) moving a dead American cockroach (Periplaneta americana)

toward their nest in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia

A gracilipes has been described as a "scavenging predator" exhibiting a broad diet, a

characteristic of many invasive species. It consumes a wide variety of foods,

including grains, seeds, arthropods, and decaying matter such as vertebrate

corpses. They have been reported to attack and dismember invertebrates such as
small isopods, myriapods, molluscs, arachnids, land crabs, earthworms and insects.

[13]

Like all ants, A gracilipes requires a protein-rich food source for the queen to lay

eggs and carbohydrates as energy for the workers. They get their carbohydrates

from plant nectar and honeydew producing insects, especially scale insects, aphids,

and other Sternorrhyncha. Studies indicate that crazy ants rely so much on scale

[11]
insects that a scarcity of them can actually limit ant population growth.

Reproduction[edit]

Similar to other ants, the queen produces eggs which are fertilized by male sperm

that are stored in sperm stores. When an egg is fertilized, there are three distinct

events that can happen: (i) the resulting diploid organism develops into a queen if

the egg is fertilized by an R sperm or (ii) into an infertile diploid worker if the egg is

fertilized by a W sperm. However, a third outcome has been described in a 2023

scientific study: (iii) the egg is fertilized by a W sperm but the parental nuclei

bypasses the fusion of the two gametes and divide separately within the same egg,

leading to a haploid male that is chimeric with a portion of cells carrying the W

[8]
genome and a portion of cells carrying the R genome. Interestingly, not all tissues

have equal proportions of each cell line, with sperm cells mostly carrying the W
 [8]
genome and thus providing the W alleles with a fitness advantage. This is the first

[14][15]
known case of obligate chimerism in animals.

Mutualism[edit]

Crazy ants obtain much of their food requirements from scale insects, which are

plant pests that feed on sap of trees and release honeydew, a sugary liquid. Ants eat

honeydew, and in return protect the scale insects from their enemies and spread

them among trees, an example of mutualism. The honeydew not eaten by the ants

drips onto the trees and encourages the growth of sooty mold over the leaves and

stems. This gives plants an ugly black appearance and reduces their health and

vigor.

The ants protect the insects by "nannying" the mobile crawler stages and protecting

[16]
them against their natural enemies. Experiments have shown that this connection

is so strong that, in environments where A. gracilipes was removed, the density of

[17]
scale insects dropped by 67% within 11 weeks, and to zero after 12 months.

In Australia[edit]

In Australia, yellow crazy ants have been found at more than 30 sites in Queensland,

and in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, where a large scattered population
 [18]
exists. A single New South Wales infestation was detected and eradicated, and,

in Western Australia, yellow crazy ants have been intercepted in shipping freight

[19]
arriving at Fremantle.

Queensland's main infestation is 830 hectares (2,100 acres) in and around Wet

[18]
Tropics of Queensland rainforest, a World Heritage Site. The Northern Territory

[19]
infestation covers 2,500 square kilometres (970 sq mi), an area larger than the

[20]
Australian Capital Territory.

Climate modelling indicates yellow crazy ants could spread across northern Australia

from Queensland to Western Australia, across much of Queensland and into coastal

[19]
and inland parts of New South Wales. Areas with the most ideal habitat and

climatic conditions, such as the Wet Tropics of Queensland rainforests, are likely to

[21]
experience the highest impacts.

A cost–benefit analysis by the Queensland government undertaken in 2012 found

that yellow crazy ants could cost Australia's economy over A$3 billion if the ants

were not treated. This analysis did not take potential impacts on Australia's

[21]
biodiversity into account. The known impacts of crazy ants in tropical rainforests

overseas may provide useful insights into these impacts, bearing in mind that the
 most significant impacts are associated with relatively small islands, such as

[19][7]
Christmas Island.

Impact on Christmas Island[edit]

[19][7]
Crazy ants have had a profound impact on the biodiversity of Christmas Island.

The crazy ant has a significant destructive impact on the island's ecosystem, killing

and displacing crabs on the forest floor. The supercolonies also devastate crab

numbers migrating to the coast. This has seen a rapid depletion in the number of

[7] [7]
land crabs — killing up to 20 million of them — which are vital to Christmas

Island's biodiversity; land crabs are a keystone species in the forest ecology: they dig

[22]
burrows, turn over the soil, and fertilize it with their droppings.

Seedlings that were previously eaten by crabs started to grow and, as a result,

changed the structure of the forest. Weeds have spread into the rainforest because

there are no crabs to control them. One of the most noticeable changes in the forest

is the increased numbers of the stinging tree Dendrocnide peltata, which now

flourishes in many areas frequently visited by humans. The forest canopy also

changed as the scale insects tended by yellow crazy ants multiplied and killed

[23][21]
mature trees.
 [7]
Christmas Island red crabs are completely wiped out in infested areas. Populations

of other ground and canopy dwelling animals, such as reptiles and other leaf litter

fauna, have also decreased. During crab migrations, many crabs move through

areas infested with ants and are killed. Studies show that the ant has displaced an

[7]
estimated 15–20 million crabs by occupying their burrows, killing and eating

resident crabs, and using their burrows as nest sites. This factor has greatly depleted

[24][25]
red crabs, and made their annual land migrations far more perilous.

Although crazy ants do not bite or sting, they spray formic acid as a defence

mechanism and to subdue their prey. In areas of high ant density, the movement of a

land crab disturbs the ants and, as a result, the ants instinctively spray formic acid as

a form of defence. The high levels of formic acid at ground level eventually

overwhelm the crabs, and they are usually blinded then eventually die from

dehydration (while attempting to flush off the formic acid) and exhaustion. As the

[21]
dead crabs decay, the protein becomes available to the ants.

Crazy ants kill fauna, but encourage scale insects. Increased densities of scale

insects cause forest die back, and even the death of large forest trees. These

changes create a cascade of negative impacts, including weed invasion, significantly

altering the forest landscape.

Supercolonies[edit]
Christmas Island is a focal point for international control efforts. These supercolonies

spread farther and cause more damage than single colonies, and they pose the

single greatest known threat to the island's biodiversity.

Staff from Christmas Island National Park have worked in recent years to keep ant

numbers in check. With help from the Christmas Island Crazy Ant Scientific Advisory

Panel and support from the Australian Government they are holding ground.

Another supercolony nearly devastated the bird fauna of Johnston Atoll in the Pacific

Ocean. The single massive colony was found to occupy nearly a quarter of the

island, with up to 1,000 queens in a plot of land 6 metres (20 ft) wide. The infestation

[26]
is thought to have been eradicated.

Control measures[edit]

To reduce the impacts of crazy ants on red crabs and Christmas Island's ecosystems

the Parks Australia carried out a major aerial baiting program in 2009, to follow up

the first aerial baiting conducted in 2002. The first step was conducting an extensive

island-wide survey to determine the exact locations of the supercolonies. For several

months, staff traversed the island surveying over 900 sites. The result was a map of

crazy ant supercolonies and red crab burrow densities, together with other

biodiversity data.
In September 2009, a helicopter was used to precisely bait crazy ant supercolonies,

which covered 784 hectares (1,940 acres) of the island. A very low concentration of

fipronil bait (0.1%) was used to control the ants. Monthly monitoring of these baited

supercolony sites shows that crazy ant densities were reduced by 99%.

Park staff placed a high emphasis on minimising non-target impact of baiting. Food

lures were dropped from a helicopter to attract robber crabs away from areas that

were about to be baited. This technique, combined with the low concentration fipronil

bait, proved to be highly successful with extremely low numbers of robber crabs and

no red crabs known to be killed by the baiting.

While baiting has slowed the decline of the red crab, its effects on the crazy ant

populations are only temporary, as escaping colonies invade the treated areas

again, and it is expensive, requiring much man power. In an effort to find a better

control, after research, Australian Parks in December 2016 imported

5
Tachardiaephagus somervillei, a small (2 millimetres ( ⁄64 in)) wasp and began

breeding them for release. The wasp, which attacks only scale insects, is a

voracious predator of what is believed to be one of the crazy ant's largest source of

[27]
honeydew on Christmas Island, the yellow lac scale insect.

Researchers from La Trobe University in Melbourne, funded by Parks Australia,

began looking for biological controls in 2009. While the ants are omnivores, studies

have shown honeydew is an important part of the diet of Christmas Island crazy

ants. Samples of ants taken from colonies that are growing rapidly have more
 honeydew in their diet than when the colonies decline. Further, restricting access to

honeydew, by binding trees where the scale insects feed, dramatically reduced the

[28]
colony as ant activity on the ground fell by 95% in just four weeks. In the

laboratory, colonies with limited sources of sugar were compared to colonies with

access to abundant sugar. Those with abundant sugar had more fertile queens and

lower death rates among workers. The workers were also more aggressive toward

other ant species and explored their environments more. This is believed to show

why the ants decline when deprived of access to scale insects in the field, and

confirm reduced honeydew will greatly reduce the ants' ability to form super colonies.

[24]

While controlling the scale insect is expected to control the yellow crazy ant on

Christmas Island, on mainland Australia it is thought this would not help. There are at

least a dozen honeydew producing insects as well as extrafloral nectar from native

[27]
acacia trees, all of which fuel yellow crazy ants.

Experts continue to call for a fully funded, long-term baiting program on mainland

[29]
Australia.

References[edit]

● ^
● Jump up to:

abc
● Anoplolepis gracilipes. Global Invasive Species Database. ISSG.

● ^ Davies, Ella. "Battle of the Ants". BBC. Retrieved 2021-08-05.

● ^ "One Remote Island's Battle Against Acid-Spewing Ants". Audubon. 2015-

06-26. Retrieved 2022-04-02.

● ^ "Pests and Diseases Image Library: Anoplolepis gracilipes". Archived from

the original on 2008-07-29.

● ^ Kirschenbaum, R. and Grace, J. K. 2008. "Agonistic responses of the tramp

ants Anoplolepis gracilipes, Pheidole megacephala, Linepithema humile, and

Wasmannia auropunctata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)" (PDF). Sociobiology.

51 (3): 673–84.

● ^ One Hundred of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species. Global Invasive

Species Database. Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), IUCN Species

Survival Commission.

● ^

● Jump up to:

abcdefghi
● "Help push back against the march of yellow crazy ants".

Invasive Species Council. 2020-12-17. Retrieved 2020-12-30.

● ^

● Jump up to:
 abc
● Darras, H.; Berney, C.; Hasin, S.; Drescher, J.; Feldhaar, H.; Keller, L.

(April 7, 2023). "Obligate chimerism in male yellow crazy ants". Science. 380

(6640): 55–58. doi:10.1126/science.adf0419. PMID 37023182. S2CID

257985666.

● ^ O'Dowd, Dennis J.; Green, Peter T.; Lake, P. S. (2003). "Invasional

'meltdown' on an oceanic island" (PDF). Ecology Letters. 6 (9): 812–817.

doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00512.x.

● ^ "Anoplolepis gracilipes". The Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics (GABI)

database. Retrieved 23 January 2019.

● ^

● Jump up to:

abc
● Holoway D.A., David A.; Lach, Lori; Suarez, Andrew V.; Tsutsui, Neil D.;

Case, Ted J. (2002). "The causes and consequences of ant invasions".

Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 33: 181–233.

doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.33.010802.150444. S2CID 16691880.

● ^ McGlynn T.P., Terrence P. (1999). "The Worldwide Transfer of Ants:

Geographical Distribution and Ecological Invasions". Journal of Biogeography.

26 (3): 535–548. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.1999.00310.x. S2CID 83955798.

● ^

● Jump up to:

ab
● O’Dowd D.J. (1999). "Crazy Ant Attack". Wingspan. 9 (2): 7.

● ^ Bob Yirka. "Yellow crazy ant males have two sets of DNA".
● ^ Callaway, Ewen (April 6, 2023). "Crazy ants' strange genomes are a

biological first". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-01002-3. PMID 37024590.

S2CID 258007429 – via www.nature.com.

● ^ Ness, J.H.; Bronstein, J.L.; et al. (2004). "The Effects of Invasive Ants on

Prospective ant Mutualists". Biological Invasions. 6 (4): 445–461.

doi:10.1023/B:BINV.0000041556.88920.dd. S2CID 10180210.

● ^ Abbott, Kirsti L.; Green, Peter T.; et al. (2007). "Collapse of an ant-scale

mutualism in a rainforest on Christmas Island". Oikos. 116 (7): 1238–1246.

doi:10.1111/j.0030-1299.2007.15629.x.

● ^

● Jump up to:

ab
● Invasive Species Council; (2016) Yellow Crazy Ants In Australia, Invasive

Species Council Fact Sheet.

● ^

● Jump up to:

abcde
● Csurhes, Steve and Hankamer, Clare; 2012 (updated 2016) "Invasive

Animal Risk Assessment Yellow Crazy Ant"; Queensland Government of

Australia. Retrieved 2017-03-17.

● ^ Area of Australia – States and Territories. Geoscience Australia

● ^

● Jump up to:
 abcd
● Hoskin, Conrad and Lach, Lori (2015). "Too much to lose: Yellow crazy

ants in the wet tropics" (PDF). Wildlife Australia. 52 (3): 37–41. ISSN 0043-

5481.

● ^ "Red crab migration". Parks Australia. 2017.

● ^ Davis, Naomi; O’Dowd, Dennis; Green, Peter; MacNally, Ralf (15 July

2008). "Effects of an alien ant invasion on abundance, behaviour, and

reproductive success of endemic island birds". Conservation Biology. 22 (5):

1165–1176. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.00984.x. PMID 18637918. S2CID

36086986.

● ^

● Jump up to:

ab
● Christmas Island yellow crazy ant control program (PDF).

environment.gov.au (Report). Department of the Environment, Australia.

● ^ Bittel, Jason (December 24, 2015). "The Christmas crab massacre".

nrdc.org. Natural Resources Defense Council.

● ^ "Strike team vanquishes crazy ants at Johnston" (PDF). Environment

Hawaii Newsletter. Conservation Registry. September 2012. Archived from

the original (PDF) on 2013-11-12. Retrieved 2013-01-14.

● ^

● Jump up to:

ab
● "Yellow crazy ant biological control arrives on Christmas Island".

invasives.org.au (blog). 9 January 2017.

Island's crabs" (Press release). La Trobe University. Archived from the

original on 2017-03-17. Retrieved 2017-03-17.

● ^ Bateman, Daniel (20 May 2016). "Federal funds finally found to combat

yellow crazy ants in Far North Queensland". The Cairns Post. Retrieved

2017-03-24.

External links[edit]

● Media related to Anoplolepis gracilipes at Wikimedia Commons

Taxon identifiers

An

● Wikidata: Q935471

● Wikispecies: Anoplolepis gracilipes

● ADW: Anoplolepis_gracilipes

● AFD: Anoplolepis_gracilipes

● BOLD: 52698

● CoL: 5V8YV

● EoL: 470492

● EPPO: ANOPLO
 ● EUNIS: 88418

● Fauna Europaea: 81499

● Fauna Europaea (new): 60858346-9e3b-46ad-afa9-91a54b14b893

● GBIF: 1317433

● GISD: 110

● iNaturalist: 123386

● IRMNG: 10698859

● ISC: 5575

● ITIS: 575523

● NCBI: 354296

● Open Tree of Life: 301899

Authority control
● Israel
databases: National

Categories:

Fauna of Christmas Island

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