AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF)- Sightings of a potentially deadly invasive species are spreading across the United States.
They’ve been spotted in at least 17 states including Georgia and South Carolina.
This ant species has been around since the 1930s, but now it’s becoming known as a “medical pest”.
It is the Asian Needle Ant, and it could be your next stinging nightmare.
The Asian Needle Ant looks just like a regular ant, but a professor from UGA says there is one thing that makes it different.
“But it makes them a little bit different is that some people get stung by it. They can. They can incur. They can experience anaphylaxis, which can be a life-threatening condition. So we thought, you know, last year I had numerous cases of people who had contacted me as an extension entomologist, and numerous people who had contacted me who had been stung by this and suffered anaphylaxis and wound up in the hospital,” said Dr. Dan Suiter, UGA Orkin Entomologist.
And he says that they mainly live in hardwood places.
“And they live in logs. So, if you’ve got firewood, for instance, keep the firewood up off the ground, because if that wood gets in contact with the ground, ants will actually move up into the wood and you’ll bring them inside and maybe get stung by them. If you’re gardening and you’re picking something up that’s been laying there for a few days. Pick it up and look underneath it. See ants on it, just kind of brush them off. Get them identified.”
Dr. Suiter says if you think you have some in your yard, put a couple in your jar and send them to Richmond County Extension Coordinator, Campbell Vaughn, who can identify them.
Photojournalist: Dania Alawir
