Environmental Entomology (1983) 12, 541-545

Joseph J. Reilly and Winfield L. Sterling (1983)
Interspecific association between the red imported fire ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), aphids, and some predaceous insects in a cotton agroecosystem
Environmental Entomology 12 (2), 541-545
Abstract: Interspecific association between the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, and several insect inhabitants of east Texas cotton fields was analyzed from samples taken during 1973 and 1974. Positive association values indicated that ants occur in combination with aphids and several hemipteran predators more frequently than expected on the basis of chance alone. In all cases, the ants were more attracted to the other species than the other species were to the ants. Thus, the ants have no negative effect on other predaceous insects in cotton fields.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
environment - cropping system/rotation
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
environment/habitat manipulation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Anthonomus grandis	Cotton (Gossypium)	U.S.A. (mid S)
	Heliothis virescens	Cotton (Gossypium)	U.S.A. (mid S)
Solenopsis invicta (predator)	Anthonomus grandis	Cotton (Gossypium)	U.S.A. (mid S)
Solenopsis invicta (predator)	Heliothis virescens	Cotton (Gossypium)	U.S.A. (mid S)