Flies To Fight Fire Ants

From CBCnews.ca:

Researchers in Texas are trying an unusual approach to combat fire ants — deploying parasitic flies that turn the pesky and economically costly insects into zombies whose heads fall off.
....

[T]he researchers are trying a tiny phorid fly, native to a region of South America where the fire ants originated. Researchers have learned that fire ants in their home region are kept under control by as many as 23 phorid species.

The flies lay eggs on the fire ants, and the eggs hatch into maggots inside the ant and eat away at the pest's tiny brain.
....

There is no brain left in the ant, and the ant just starts wandering aimlessly," he said.

About a month after the egg is laid, the ant's head falls off — and a new fly emerges ready to attack another fire ant.

Fire ants are pests and a menaces. Off with their heads! I've been bitten many times. The bite hurts like hell. My children and grandchildren have been bitten badly when they were quite young. One of my grandsons is allergic to the bites and has to take Benadryl immediately when he's bitten. The bites itch and form tiny pustules, which the children scratch. Sometimes the bites get infected, and impetigo follows.

Very young lambs and calves have been killed by the ants. What an agonizing death that must be. The ants are garden pests, too, forming large ant hills around plants that eventually smother the plant. I'd be more than happy to be rid of them.

The scientists say this is a long-term project, and we will have fire ants around for some time into the future. The ants are not native species. They came to the US from South America, so perhaps it will be a good thing to have a predator from that same area that the fire ants originally came. For now, the experiment seems promising.

I hope there are no negative unintended consequences from the introduction of the flies.