Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

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Fruit fly sex lives impact effectiveness of pest control strategies

Scientists in Australia have been hard at work watching fruit flies mate to figure out how fly sex is affecting your food. During this process they are discovering more effective pest control strategies. For a great read, check out:

http://nittygrittyscience.com/2012/09/06/fruit-fly-sex-lives-impact-effectiveness-of-pest-control-strategies/

Mosquitoes Plague the Northwest as West Nile Cases Increase

Recent rains, warm weather, and high humidity have made mosquito control in the Northwest challenging. The number of foreclosed properties in the area, with their sometimes un-kept swimming pools and scattered backyard debris that’s collecting water, is making mosquito control more difficult.

http://blog.pestcontrolceus.com/mosquitoes-plague-canyon-hills-neighborhood-as-west-nile-cases-increase/

New Kind of Ant Discovered in New York City

We can now add one more type of ant to the 13,000 plus known breeds in the world. A new type of ant was discovered by a biologist earlier this week near 63^rd and Broadway in New York City.

http://www.longislandpestcontrolblog.com/2012/09/06/new-type-of-new-york-ant/

Scorpion Sting Leaves Arizona Woman With Massive $83,000 Bill

Our friends at Pest Control Mesa AZ bring us this unfortunate story coming out of Phoenix. Imagine being in your garage, opening a box of air conditioner filters, when you are suddenly stung by a scorpion—and that’s not even the worst part! Read all about it at:

http://pestcontrolmesaaz.com/scorpion-sting-leaves-arizona-woman-with-massive-83000-bill/

Top 10 Considerations when Hiring Pest Control Companies

Here are ten criteria our customers are taking into consideration when they are looking to hire a pest control professional. As a pest control operator, look to align yourself with most of these demands to be successful in the industry.

http://xtremeartandentertaiment.blogspot.com/2012/09/top-10-considerations-for-pest-control.html

The Basics of Dust Mites

For all the ins and outs about dust might behavior, including: where they like to hide, how they get into your home, and the health concerns they can cause, check out:

http://www.richterslawncare.com/detroit-pest/the-basics-of-dust-mites/

Florida harvester ant polymorphic workers (Photo credit: bob in swamp)

Contrary to popular belief, Al Gore did not create the internet– Ants may have thousands of years ago.

New research from Stanford University suggests that Harvester Ants use their own type of internet, or “anternet,” for decision making inside the nest. These ant colonies are able to determine how many foragers need to be sent out by using a protocol system that is similar to the one IT professionals use to find out how much bandwidth is accessible on the internet.

Harvester Ant Evolution

It has long been thought by scientists that there may be some connection between ant behavior and computer science. Biologist Deborah Gordon and computer scientist Balaji Prabhaker of Stanford University have verified in this research that ant decision making and behavior is synchronized by a complex set of algorithms. It is suggested in the research that Harvester Ants have developed these algorithms over the course of millions of years of insect evolution, and that they still continue to evolve.

Transmission Control Protocol

After observing the Harvester Ants, the Stanford scientists were able to determine that the ants were using an algorithm similar to Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). TCP was a significant advancement in the formation of the internet. It permitted information technologists to take the internet from a few dozen nodes to the billions currently in use today. It works by moving a file from a source to the destination in a series of packets. The source is continually informed by the destination as to when the packets have arrived. So, if it’s taking too long, there must not be much bandwidth available, and the source will re-adjust by decreasing the rate of packet transmission.

TCP and Harvester Ants

Harvester Ants use their own type of TCP to determine how much food is available based on information brought back from the worker ants. The workers leave the nest in search of food. They harvest pollen directly from plants, gather dead insects, and forage for fallen seeds. Workers usually forage for only one specific type of food each day, changing their specialty daily, and will only return to the colony after it finds food. If the amount of food available is high, a higher number of worker ants will return. They’ll transmit acknowledgment messages, through the antennae, to the rest of the colony about the abundance of food. Much like TCP controls the release of data depending on bandwidth, the Harvester Ant colony will release worker ants depending on the amount of food.

What These Findings Mean for Pest Control Operators

All this new research is just confirming what many of us pest control operators already know… A Harvester Ant colony’s nest must be directly treated, not just the areas affected by the foraging ants. The foraging ants may be few, or many, depending on the TCP release of ants. No matter the number of foraging ants on a property, there will be thousands more inside the actual nest. Harvester Ant colonies will occur in open areas, and only have a single opening near the top of a dirt/gravel mound. There will be no vegetation within a three foot radius of the mound, and colonies are widely separated. Workers ants forage April thru September– Foraging throughout the day during cooler months, and only 5–11 am and 3–9 pm during the summer. Ant insecticide should be applied directly to the colony’s nest during the warmest part of the day when the ants are least active.

What Else Will Harvester Ants Teach Us?

Harvester ants continue to amaze us all with their capabilities. Working together as a collective, they are able of performing remarkably complicated responsibilities. As they continue to evolve, these ants may continue to teach our society more and more about network systems.

Source: io9.com

Related articles

• How does an ant colony coordinate its behaviour?
• [tt] the Anternet
• Stanford research reveals that the behavior of ants when foraging for food mirrors the Internet’s TCP protocol.
• Uncovering the ‘anternet’: Stanford researchers find insects’ behavior mirrors our own networks
• Ants in the Pants!

Zombie Ant Control - The next weapon.

Just when you thought it was safe to sleep at night…

When little fire ants bite’s only meant a painful welt…

We bring you a pest control story worthy of Forbes, Times, and the Wall Street Journal…

Could it be evidence of  living dead are being found at less then centimeter high?

Fungus that eats on brains is stirring…

From the deep dark Brazilian Rainforest…

We bring you…

The Zombie Ant in…

THE PEST CONTROL HORROR!

So I am not sure if I should laugh, cry, or applaud. It is true that everyone these days wants to be sensational, yes even us dole boring pest control guys that run the same routine day in and day out. Sure Billy the Exterminator makes our jobs look exciting and fun, but really… spraying scorpions, baiting ant mounds, sweeping spider webs from the eaves… It’s not as glamorous as Dirty Jobs makes it seems. Granted on occasion stepping back 20 feet from a huge hornets nest and letting the Wasp Freeze fly is pretty cool. And the adrenaline certainly kicks in when those nasty flying pest going a buzzing. But can it be that we have reached a new level when we start calling ants dieing because they are infected with a fungus ZOMBIE ANTS?

Forbes Jumps on the Zombie Ant Viral Band Wagon

Okay, today’s post comes after receiving a notification of ants hitting Forbes’ News. http://blogs.forbes.com/johnfarrell/2011/05/10/now-science-falls-to-the-zombie-meme/ Granted John Farrell makes his case that this news is getting way too much attention…

But to take up Larry’s point, the ants aren’t really zombies in the classic sense of walking corpses. They linger for a while, as automatons, before slowly dying. They don’t come back to life looking to eat their healthier compadres.

Come back to life looking to eat other ants… LOL.. Good one John. I mean that would be freaking amazing and truly worth a journalist’s time, yet somehow we are both still dedicating time to this social phenomena. For those that don’t pay attention to Yahoo… Zombie Ants was trending on Yahoo. (Does anyone know what that means?..) I guess John and I are really hoping that this will trend on twitter so that we can get some real mileage out of covering an unworthy ant story.Yes, it takes an oxymoron to know one. Again, crying or applauding are both equally felt emotions.

The Rest Of the Story

From the scientists corner: “Zombie Ants Have Fungus on the Brain, New Research Reveals” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110509065536.htm

For a scientist that studies ants all day long, little carpenter ants that start acting erratic by stepping out of line is a big deal. And it is a little uncanny that these ants will react in sync with the high noon sun phase, biting their fierce jaws on the vein of an unsuspecting leaf. Oh yes, it is frightening to think that “lock jaw” position is the zombie corpses last act.  The leaf now providing the perfect nutrition to foster more fungus zombie creating spores to attack the next ant that wonders it’s way. Fantastic story!

Let’s hear it from their own words:

“The fungus attacks the ants on two fronts: first by using the ant as a walking food source, and second by damaging muscle and the ant’s central nervous system. The result for the ant is zombie walking and the death bite, which place the ant in the cool, damp understory. Together these events provide the perfect environment for fungal growth and reproduction.”

<APPLAUDING!>

Props to a very creative story and a killer headline and name. Who doesn’t want to know what a zombie ant is especially after a scientist has called it as such? And who says that a scientist can’t be sensational and that bugs can’t be fun? Everyday ant control needs a little extra fire in it. Exterminators what a splash of color in their work as well. So yes, there is that ever present exaggeration, but who believes in green Zombie’s anyways?

Related Pages: Charlotte Ant Control