Spermatozoon Counts in Males and Inseminated Queens of the Imported Fire Ants, Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

1 March 1985

journal article
research article
Published by JSTOR in The Florida Entomologist

Vol. 68 (1) , 162-168
https://doi.org/10.2307/3494341

Abstract

The Coulter Counter IIA, an automatic particle counter, was a fast, accurate device for counting spermatozoa in fire ants. Queens of S. invicta, the red imported fire ant (RIFA) had an average 5,669,683 .+-. 48,148 spermatozoa in the spermatheca 2 wk after mating. RIFA males, ready for a nuptural flight, had an average of 8,761,637 spermatozoa. Males and females of S. richteri, the black imported fire ant, had spermatozoon counts extremely close to those of S. invicta. Spermatozoon counts from field collected physogastric S. invicta queens ranged from 551,594-5,634,883. A previous study reported counts (determined by a hemacytometer) of only 377,000 spermatozoa in mated RIFA females. These new figures appear to more accurately reflect the reproductive potential of the fire ant.

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