The worrying discovery of a new outbreak of “electric ants” in France

A new invasive species has just established itself in France: the “electric ant”. Originally from South America, its name comes from the stings felt like discharges, the pain of which persists for several hours. The species arrived in Europe in 2018, due to globalization, and in particular the plant trade. First discovered in Toulon two years ago, it was observed again this summer in the Var at La Croix-Valmer. France Inter revealed, at the start of the week, the location of an outbreak. Europe 1 was able to confirm this information.

“A very strong discharge and intense tingling”

This summer, Frédéric's son was playing in the garden when he started screaming. Red bites appeared on his body, then the whole family was affected and felt the same pain. “It’s first of all a very strong discharge, a sort of intense tingling,” describes the father. “And then you notice several bites and several blisters in different places.”

Around ten houses affected, several million ants counted. To eradicate these microscopic beasts, yellow-orange in color, Frédéric calls on a specialist, Olivier Blight, researcher at the University of Avignon. The latter goes there at the end of August to confirm the presence of electric ants.

“These ants spread absolutely everywhere: in your garden, on your chairs outside, but also in your room…”, reports Olivier Blight. “There are indeed some at Frédéric's house, and then there are some at his neighbors', so around ten houses are affected: across the entire invaded area, there are around several million individuals.”

Olivier Blight must soon eradicate the ants in this outbreak in the Var using chemicals. Time is running out because this species is reproducing at full speed.

Twenty million dollars spent in Australia to eradicate it

“In Australia, when they detected this species of ant in 2006, it was already widely distributed. So eradication was very difficult. There was over $20 million spent. But it seems that in France we are still on fairly small areas,” indicates the researcher.

This electric ant is very harmful to biodiversity: it destroys insects, which results in birds disappearing. Its bites are very annoying, but are not dangerous for human health. However, in very rare cases, they cause serious allergic reactions.