DISCOVERY OF HYBRID FIRE ANT POPULATIONS IN GEORGIA AND ALABAMA

Abstract
The recent movement of fire ants into previously non-infested northwest Georgia counties led to an investigation of their identity. Gas chromatograph traces of the cuticular hydrocarbon patterns of these ants showed them to be hybrids of Solenopsis invicta Buren and Solenopsis richteri Forel. This study extends the known range of the hybrid to ten Georgia counties, twenty-one Alabama counties, and five Mississippi counties.