Though only a few millimetres long, the red fire ant is known as one of the most aggressive invasive insect species. It has recently spread into Europe, and researchers say that if it spreads widely it will cause major damage to agriculture.

Agricultural scientist Ferdinando Caldarella is monitoring the fire ant's spread in the Syracuse area of Sicily, Italy. He says it has already spread in Italy. The ant eats plant roots below ground and also kills insects that are useful for farming.

The European Union (EU) has put this ant at the top of its red list of invasive species. It was once thought such an insect could not live on European soil, so scientists were startled to find it last autumn. The ant was first seen in the Syracuse area of Sicily.

A year earlier, Ferdinando had warned about it on social media, but nobody listened. He says the ant is quite large, and immediate action should have been taken to stop the species spreading, because countries such as Brazil, China and the United States have spent billions of dollars without managing to stop it, and farming there is suffering serious damage.

The species is native to Brazil. How and when exactly it reached Sicily is still not known. Ferdinando points out that there is no uproar about the ant yet and it has not done much damage so far. But if the number of nests rises sharply, crops, fruit and vegetable growing will suffer huge losses. The ant does particularly well where the ground is watered, such as playing fields and private gardens.

Carmen Caruso was the first in Sicily to be bitten by the ant, and realised at once it was not a local species. It destroyed her rose garden. "As a rose lover, this was a terrible experience for me. I built that rose garden with a lot of love. When I saw these ants destroying my beloved garden, it felt as if they were killing me. I still don't know how to stop them."

Sicily's regional administration also wants to eradicate the ant. Local forest officer Gianluca Ferlito has recently been appointed as a special officer. He has brought a machine from Sardinia in which a pump drives air at 140 degrees Celsius into the ants' nests.

About six weeks after the first trial, the site was checked. After a careful inspection, Gianluca said only one ant was left after the hot air treatment. This is the method being used in the effort to eradicate the ant from Sicily.

Researchers found a total of 44 nests of the species in a 4.7-hectare area beside a river in Sicily. Talking to local people, they learned that residents of the area had been bitten frequently for several years. Many said the bite causes unbearable pain as well as shivering.

According to the research, 7 per cent of the European continent's environmental conditions are suitable for this ant, but climate change could speed up its spread and growth, and urban areas are especially at risk.

Spanish biologist Roger Vila said that in fact 50 per cent of Europe's cities are at risk from the insect. This is particularly worrying, he said, because many cities, including London, Amsterdam and Rome, have large seaports that could spread the ant very quickly to other countries and continents.

He added that we need to be more aware of the problem because it has already begun to spread in Europe, and coordinated action is needed as quickly as possible.

Citing Deutsche Welle and ScienceDaily.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.