http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090512/sc_mcclatchy/3231765

It sounds like something out of science fiction: zombie fire ants. But it's all too real.

Fire ants wander aimlessly away from the mound.

Eventually their heads fall off, and they die.

The strange part is that researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M's AgriLife Extension Service say making "zombies" out of fire ants is a good thing.

"It's a tool — they're not going to completely wipe out the fire ant, but it's a way to control their population," said Scott Ludwig , an integrated pest management specialist with the AgriLife Extension Service in Overton , in East Texas .

The tool is the tiny phorid fly, native to a region of South America where the fire ants in Texas originated. Researchers have learned that there are as many as 23 phorid species along with pathogens that attack fire ants to keep their population and movements under control.

So far, four phorid species have been introduced in Texas .

The flies "dive-bomb" the fire ants and lay eggs. The maggot that hatches inside the ant eats away at the brain, and the ant starts exhibiting what some might say is zombie-like behavior.

"At some point, the ant gets up and starts wandering," said Rob Plowes, a research associate at UT.

The maggot eventually migrates into the ant's head, but Plowes said he "wouldn't use the word 'control' to describe what is happening. There is no brain left in the ant, and the ant just starts wandering aimlessly. This wandering stage goes on for about two weeks."

About a month after the egg is laid, the ant's head falls off and the fly emerges ready to attack any foraging ants away from the mound and lay eggs.

Plowes said fire ants are "very aware" of these tiny flies, and it only takes a few to cause the ants to modify their behavior.

"Just one or two flies can control movement or above-ground activity," Plowes said. "It's kind of like a medieval activity where you're putting a castle under siege."

Researchers began introducing phorid species in Texas in 1999. The first species has traveled all the way from Central and South Texas to the Oklahoma border. This year, UT researchers will add colonies south of the Metroplex at farms and ranches from Stephenville to Overton . It is the fourth species introduced in Texas .

Fire ants cost the Texas economy about $1 billion annually by damaging circuit breakers and other electrical equipment, according to a Texas A&M study. They can also threaten young calves.

Determining whether the phorid flies will work in Texas will take time, perhaps as long as a decade.

"These are very slow acting," Plowes said. "It's more like a cumulative impact measured across a time frame of years. It's not an immediate silver bullet impact."

The flies, which are USDA -approved, do not attack native ants or species and have been introduced in other Gulf Coast states, Plowes said. Despite initial concerns, farmers and ranchers have been willing to let researchers use their property to establish colonies. At the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association in Fort Worth in March, Plowes said they found plenty of volunteers.

5/12/2009 6:40:33 PM

5/12/2009 6:44:41 PM

hey, remember when it was a good idea to import Africanized bees to the United States?

that turned out so awesome, hopefully this can be as awesome as that was

5/12/2009 6:46:48 PM

did they even do that on purpose?

5/12/2009 6:49:44 PM

the brazilian imported fire ant is becoming more and more of a problem in the us and is spreading throughout the country even though they have strict regulations & search anything transported north that contains soil. this doesnt surprise me although i wonder if these flies would become a pest as well.

5/12/2009 7:20:08 PM

^^yes

5/12/2009 7:23:30 PM

more like "it sounds like something [old]"

5/12/2009 7:49:49 PM

wow

5/12/2009 7:53:08 PM

that's fucked up

I'm not down with deliberately introducing parasites into anyone's brain

even an ant's

5/12/2009 8:25:14 PM

Seriously, these flies don't want anything to do with us, yeah? I don't want to look down one day, have my arm itch, and see shit wriggling under my skin.

As described this makes me .

5/12/2009 8:31:51 PM

5/12/2009 8:32:33 PM

And people wonder how the zombie invasion will begin.

5/12/2009 8:39:44 PM

Assuming that the law of unintended consequences doesn't fuck anything up, I support this 100%.
Organic pest control for the win.

5/12/2009 8:42:21 PM

5/12/2009 8:54:56 PM

reminds me of

cordyceps (Parasitic Fungi) as seen on BBC's planet earth documentary.Things to think about:How ... Bizarre Ant Fungus Makes Heads Explode ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgkL8PulPdE

5/12/2009 9:06:10 PM

yeah, even when its happening to ants the idea of that kind of thing makes my skin crawl

5/12/2009 9:11:15 PM

^^ you just brightened my day, sir

5/12/2009 9:11:17 PM

how'd i miss this

5/17/2009 4:30:57 AM

Quote :

"hey, remember when it was a good idea to import Africanized bees to the United States? that turned out so awesome, hopefully this can be as awesome as that was"

i thought about this too.

hopefully this will not be a similar situation....they've been planning introducing these for years and years ( i remember seeing a special on this when i was in high school)

5/17/2009 10:08:43 AM

5/17/2009 10:10:04 AM

Quote :

""hey, remember when it was a good idea to import Africanized bees to the United States? that turned out so awesome, hopefully this can be as awesome as that was""

they defiently were imported here on purpose, but they were never ment to be introduced into the eco system, someone left the queen catch off of one of the four hives that were being tested and BOOM, they flourished and dominated....although i do agree this might not be such a good idea

5/17/2009 12:51:42 PM

wonder how long it takes for them to start wiping out some of our native ant species.

5/17/2009 1:24:54 PM

I'm pretty sure the fire ants have been doing that for many years.

5/17/2009 3:32:25 PM

introducing a species to control another rarely works out...but who knows

5/17/2009 3:40:51 PM

The article said that the fire ants in Texas are from South Africa. So I'm saying that foreign species of ants (South African fire ants) have been controlling the native Texas ants for a long time already. Now, the South African ant flies will control the South African fire ants in Texas. BUT we don't want the South African ant flies to attack the native Texas ants and wipe them out.

[Edited on May 17, 2009 at 3:48 PM. Reason : -]

5/17/2009 3:47:46 PM

I need to get active in the ZOMBIE INVASION STRIKES RALEIGH thread again, every day and bizarre science project brings us one day closer to a time when that knowledge will be indispensable.

5/17/2009 5:25:44 PM

you know what ants fear the most...its not the anteater, its the steam roller, oh wait its not the steam roller, wait, ya it is the steam roller

-jack handey

5/17/2009 10:49:53 PM

oh no, stop. please. dont.

5/17/2009 10:52:19 PM

Quote :

"And people wonder how the zombie invasion will begin."

Also, to clarify, it must be asked again:

Quote :

"Seriously, these flies don't want anything to do with us, yeah?"

5/17/2009 10:57:41 PM

nothing good comes from africa

5/18/2009 12:00:21 AM

free labor?

5/18/2009 1:17:39 AM

the great Egyptian age was pretty bad ass

5/18/2009 1:47:04 AM

5/18/2009 8:28:14 AM

just make sure they don't dive-bomb your peen

5/18/2009 9:49:08 AM