@article {33118, title = {A South American fire ant, Solenopsis nr. saevissima, in Guadeloupe, French West Indies}, journal = {Biological Invasions}, year = {2013}, month = {May-08-2015}, abstract = {

Several species of fire ants, well known for their painful stings, have spread from their native ranges and have become invasive pests, notably\ Solenopsisgeminata,\ Solenopsis invicta,\ and\ Solenopsis richteri. Here, I report the first known exotic spread of another fire ant,\ Solenopsis\ nr.\ saevissima, a South American species now established on the French West Indian island of Guadeloupe. In 2008, I first found this shiny yellow fire ant at Plage de Viard beach on Guadeloupe. Genetic analyses indicated that this species was close to the yellow\–brown variant of\ S. saevissima\ known only from Western Amazonia, but not an exact match. I returned to Guadeloupe in 2011 and found\ S.\ nr.saevissima\ at Plage de Viard plus five additional sites along a\ \>20\ km stretch on the east coast of Basse-Terre, from the Jarry commercial shipping port in the north to Plage Roseau in the south. It seems most likely that\ S.\ nr.\ saevissima\ arrived in Guadeloupe from South America in a commercial shipment unloaded at the port in Jarry. It is unclear whether this species will develop into a major new problem.\ Solenopsis\ nr.\ saevissima\ may simply replace another pernicious fire ant,\ S. geminata, which apparently arrived in Guadeloupe from South America several 100\ years ago

}, keywords = {biological invasion, Exotic species, Fire ants, Invasive species, Solenopsis, Stinging ants}, issn = {1387-3547}, doi = {10.1007/s10530-013-0534-8}, author = {J K Wetterer} }