05-16-2008, 04:05 AM
Have you heard about the newly emergent pest dubbed "Crazy Raspberry Ants" now spreading across Texas?
I've not yet seen a species ID on them but they do not appear to be LFA from the way this fellow is sticking his hand and arm into a swarm of them.
The problem with this type of ant is it chews insulation off of wiring. Destroys solar systems, computers, and so on.
Has anyone in Puna had problems with ants chewing insulation off of wiring?
I saw something like this once in South America. While living and working at a laboratory on the Ecuadorian coast I was awakened early one morning to the oddest sound. Strange deep-toned rasping sound. Spooked me a bit at first as I did not know if some sort of animal had gotten into my bedroom and was trapped in there somewhere, or what. At first I could not figure out where it was coming from, searching cautiously all over the room with a baseball bat, then realized the scratching sound was coming from the speakers of my stereo system -but had nothing to do with the stereo (since it was turned off). A dark column several inches wide composed of tiny little tiny ants --zillions of them-- extended from the back of my stereo speakers, down the dresser they were atop, across my bedroom floor, under the door, and across the rest of the house out under the front door and then down into a hole in the ground located about twenty-five feet away. The ants were eating whatever was in the speaker cones. It was a real mess, spraying them and cleaning up. They did run erratically, like crazy, when I attacked the column and nest, but this was over twenty years ago and I do not recall if they behaved just like these Crazy Raspberry Ants or not.
Here are links to some video and a photo of these ants which are currently a problem in the Houston area and spreading outward from there-
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008....ants.KTRK
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/200...to-in.html
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Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
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Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(