Displaying items by tag: transportation spread of fire ants in hay and wood

A hybrid fire ant typical of those now seen in Lee County, Va. Virginia Tech scientists have teamed with the commonwealth’s agricultural extension service to find ways to combat the exotic insect.  Cole Shoemaker/iNaturalist

Virginia Tech entomologists partner to help track and prevent the spread of hybrid fire ants

Case Keatley is communications coordinator at Virginia Cooperative Extension.

JONESVILLE, Va. — In Lee County, Virginia Cooperative Extension Agent Amy Byington is working to stop a tiny invader posing a big problem. 

Hybrid fire ants, which are well-established across East Tennessee and parts of Kentucky and North Carolina, are now infiltrating far Southwest Virginia. 

“It’s just one more nuisance,” said Byington, who leads efforts in her county to report and treat the growing issue. “I get calls every week from landowners who are discovering new ant mounds on their property.” 

Byington partners with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) to locate and treat the mounds with insecticide bait. 

“One of my producers recently reached out and reported they had found six fire ant mounds on their farm,” she said. “The VDACS inspector later ended up counting 58. It’s a management issue and a human issue.” 

As of 2024, Lee County is the only county in Virginia with a presence of hybrid fire ants, although this is expected to change in coming years as ants gradually expand their territory north and east.