A tiny fly has become the latest weapon in the arsenal to combat the fire ant's invasion of Tennessee. Before the larva of the fly pupates, the head of the ant literally falls off. Fire ants have been plaguing the South for years.
Fire ants build large mounds and come to the defense of a disturbed mound by the thousands.
Each of these defenders is capable of delivering a fiery sting. The ants were accidentally introduced from South America. They have spread unchecked across much of the South because they left their natural enemies in Brazil. So entomologists Vail and Roberto Pereira, with UT's Experiment Station, decided to change that. Earlier this year, Vail and Pereira introduced a disease organism into fire-ant mounds in Fayette, Franklin, Hamilton and Hardeman counties.