Failure of the Red Imported Fire Ant 1 to Reduce Entomophagous Insect and Spider Abundance in a Cotton Agroecosystem 2

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Abstract
Large numbers of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, were unable to pauperize the predator arthropod fauna of a cotton field in east Texas. None of the 47 taxa sampled was significantly reduced as a result of S. invicta predation. Because of its predatory habits on boll weevils, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman and Heliothis spp., and its failure to simplify the predator fauna, S. invicta must be considered an important predator in cotton agroecosystems where it is abundant. The evidence suggests that S. invicta is a fairly specialized predator though probably a polyphagous scavenger.