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Linepithema humile

Basic information
Scientific name Linepithema humile

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<i>Linepithema humile<i>　Queen <i>Linepithema humile<i> Worker
Common names Argentine ant
Higher taxon Formicidae, Vespoidea, Hymenoptera
Natural range South America.
Habitat
Invasion information
Range in Japan Tokyo (declared eradication in 2021), Kanagawa, Shizuoka (declared eradication in 2019), Aichi, Gifu, Mie, Nara, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, and Tokushima Prefs. Range in Japan
Origin Unknown.
Date 1993
Route Accidental introduction (with building material, with some kind of transport, with some vector).
Impact Pest for agriculture and human life.
Native organism(s) affected: Insects.
Regulation in Japan Import, transport and keeping in Japan are prohibited by the Invasive Alien Species Act.
Introduced range in other countries Europe (France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, UK, Switzerland, etc.), Atlantic Islands (Azores, etc.), UAE, South Africa, Bermuda, USA (mainland, Hawaii), Mexico, Chile, Peru, Australia, New Zealand.
Reference Notes
  • Ecol Soc Japan (ed) (2002) Handbook of Alien Species in Japan. Chijin-Shokan. (in Jpn)
  • Global Invasive Species Database http://www.issg.org/database
  • New South Wales Department of Agriculture (1977) New South Wales Department of Agriculture Entomology Branch Insect Pest Bulletin 111.
  • Ôhara & Yamada (2012) A new distributional record of Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Tokushima City, Shikoku, Japan. Bull Tokushima Pref Mus. 22, 57-62 (in Jpn)
  • Roura-Pascual et al. (2006) Niche differentiation and fine-scale projections for Argentine ants based on remotely sensed data. Ecol Appl. 16(5):1832-1841
  • Sugiyama (2000) Invasion of Algentine ant, Linepithema humile, into Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Jpn J Appl Entomol Zool. 44(2):127-129
  • Thompson (1990). Ants that have pest status in the United States. In R. K. Vander Meer, K. Jaffe and A. Cedeno (eds.) Applied Myrmecology - A World Prespective. pp. 51-67. Westview Press, Boulder.
  • Tsutsui & Suarez (2003) The Colony structure and Population Biology of Invasive Ants. Conserv Biol. 17:48-58
  • Unpublished distribution data by National Institute for Environmental Studies
  • etc.
 100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species. 100 of the Japan's Worst Invasive Alien Species.
  • From 2011, established population have been controlled according to the National Institute for Environmental Studies manual.
  • In 2014, popuation in Oota-ku, Tokyo were declared eradication.
  • In 2019, popuation in Shizuoka-city, Shizuoka were declared eradication.
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