RIFA Infestation Rings Alarm Bells in Western California

With California Ag Today, I’m Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

If it’s not aggressive hornets it’s aggressive ants! The Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office is responding to an active infestation of Red Imported Fire Ants (RIFA), Solenopsis invicta, in the Montecito area. They believe the infestation originated from the importation of RIFA-infected nursery stock shipped from Riverside County in September of last year.

RIFA are highly aggressive in nature, and are capable of biting and stinging humans, pets and livestock, typically in defense of their nest/colony. The venom from RIFA stings can cause painful pustules on the skin, and can be particularly dangerous, even fatal, to sensitive groups or those with an allergy to the venom. The stinging behavior is hazardous to fieldworkers and poses a significant risk to California agriculture via its feeding on a wide variety of hosts, especially turf in both residential and institutional settings. And while all of that sounds painfully horrible enough, they can also impact infrastructure with the potential for RIFA to clog irrigation systems, and damage electrical wiring.

Several entities are now involved in the survey and treatment of the infestation. For more details, visit https://www.countyofsb.org/266/Agricultural-Commissioner