FOOD PREFERENCE AND PATTERNS OF FORAGING ACTIVITY OF THE SOUTHERN FIRE ANT (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE)

We investigated foraging patterns of the southern fire ant, Solenopsis xyloni (McCook), using combinations of readily available foods that m ight be incorporated into a bait mixture. Choice tests conducted to de termine the most attractive diet for S, xyloni included preference tes ts for each of 4 particle sizes. Freeze-dried diets were more attracti ve than oven-baked diets, and diets made with freeze-dried chicken egg s and anchovies were the most attractive. A particle size of diet of 1 1-20 mesh (840-2,000 mu m) resulted in the largest amount of diet remo ved by the colony. The smallest particle size, 40 mesh (420-590 mu m), had the most particles removed by workers but yielded the least amoun t of diet brought into the ant colony. S. xyloni is primarily a noctur nal forager, whose foraging begins approximate to 4 h before sunset an d whose maximal foraging occurs between 2 and 7 h after sunset. There was considerable seasonal intracolony variation, but the maximal amoun t of diet was taken in June, August, and October.