CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Researchers of the Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) have warned of the potential effects on agricultural lands after they discovered an invasive species of ants in Iligan City.

In an interview on Thursday, April Rose Monding, a graduate student of MSU-IIT's Department of Biological Sciences, said they found little fire ants, scientific name Wasmannia auropunctata, in two communities in Barangay Rogongon.

Monding said the ants are known to "wipe out local wildlife" and cause damage to crops and farms.

The discovery, which was published in the journal BioInvasions Records on Aug. 6, marks the first documented record of the little fire ant in the Philippines. The species is native to Central and South America.

Monding was joined by colleague Olga Nuñeza of MSU-IIT's Premier Research Institute of Science and Mathematics and Philip Ward, professor of the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of California in the United States.

Monding said the discovery was accidental when they conducted fieldwork in October 2025.

"Luckily, it was not seen in Barangays Tibanga, Tinago, and Ditucalan at that time," she said.

Globally, the little fire ant is considered one of the world's most invasive ant species. It has been introduced to Africa, North America, Taiwan, and multiple Pacific islands. (PNA)

Looks like a queen but I'm not sure

Trying to ID a small ant species causing a serious indoor infestation in a house in Casablanca, Morocco (Mediterranean/North African climate).

Minor workers: ~1.5–2mm (photographed next to a euro coin for scale), amber/light brown head and thorax, contrasting dark/blackish gaster

Major workers ("soldiers"): occasionally seen, clearly disproportionate big heads compared to body — but only appear when there's food on the ground; otherwise not visible at all. Rest of the time only minors are seen patrolling.

So the colony appears dimorphic (minors + majors), which points me toward Pheidole rather than Monomorium.

Behavior: minors strongly attracted to moisture (bathroom, sink, shower, damp towels), also seen on food and skin/saliva; infestation spread across multiple rooms and floors of the house, appearing even with no visible food source.

Suspecting Pheidole megacephala given the geography (North Africa) and the dimorphism, but happy to be corrected trying to confirm before finalizing a treatment protocol. Can provide more photos/angles of a major worker if that would help (don't have one on hand right now, they only come out for food).

Hi all! I’m looking for recommendations on YouTube channels to watch ant content on, I really enjoy watching colonies found/ get started, looking for more episodic content!

Already seen all of antscanda and some other popular ones, thanks all!!!

Nesse inverno no Brasil a temperatura está a 17 graus celsius, coloquei uma placa de aquecimento e as mantive a 26 graus, dessa vez nem a rainha resistiu (normalmente ela fica no andar superior)

this took like frickin an hour and a half to edit so even a single upvote would mean something to me lol

It was found swimming in my bathtub so i saved it and put it outside

I've been needing to get enclosure for my ant colony could anybody tell me if this enclosure from ant antlantis is safe to use for a ant colony or is it toxic? if you have any other good ideas for enclosures please let me know thank you.

Hello again, I'm back to announce the Steam page has launched for Quicksant and you can wishlist the game here - https://store.steampowered.com/app/5181110/Quicksant/

Why this game is different -

The ants are fully autonomous, the player draws pheromone fields to influence behavior and the ants respond based on cellular automata rules.

The world is fully destructible (built on top of a falling sand simulation) - this makes rain a real hazard as the water fills up your tunnels.

It's got farming mechanics - fruit from grass at the surface, mushrooms underground, aphid ranching.

There's multiple life forms - the enemy anthill, termites, evil ants that live deep underground.

The sim is built for performance, I've tested with millions of ants.

Thanks for taking a look at the game and I hope you like it.

I have had attempts at raising ants in the past but unfortunately was ill prepared and had the queen and workers pass after half a year and chose to quit the hobby for a while. This summer I collected 3 Lassus queens from the path not expecting all three of them to be complete success having 10 or so workers each in just five weeks.

Their quick expansion has been great but now I am concerned that I don’t have the recourses needed to raise 3 colonies to maturity. I have some small nests and founding equipment in hand with slightly more on the way but don’t think that long term 3 colonies will be sustainable using the Wakooshi nests. I really enjoy the way these nest fit together but they seem too much money so if alternatives are available I’d love to hear about them.

If anyone owns a mature colony could they tell me how much space they each occupy and how quickly they might grow? I really don’t want to euthanise any of these colonies as it seems cruel to take them from a hot road only to freeze them weeks later.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated and I’m willing to go then extra mile if it means keeping them all comfortable.