Impacts of red imported fire ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on striped pine scale (Homoptera: Coccidae) populations

Abstract

Loblolly pines, Pinus taeda L., were banded in three seed orchards in Georgia to prevent the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta (Buren), from tending infestations of striped pine scales, Toumeyella pini (King). Ant activity had no effect on female scale insect survival as numbers per shoot were never significantly different between check and banded trees in any of the orchards. Parasitism of females rarely differed between treatments, with higher rates twice in one orchard on unbanded trees and once in another orchard on banded trees. There also appeared to be no treatment effects on predator numbers. Coincident populations of the mealybug Oracella acuta (Lobdell) and the woolly pine scale, Pseudophilippia quaintancii Cockerell, on the shoots also were unaffected by the presence of fire ants.