It was Frédéric who raised the alarm. He owns a vacation home in this residential development, and his garden is infested with electric ants: “The first bites were on my children and in particular my youngest son, 5 years old. Extremely irritating, like an electric shock. That’s why we call them electric ants, by the way”he says.
“It's still very, very inconvenient for everyday life: that is to say, we have to check where we sit, where we stand. And above all, it's is again extremely painful, like a sting.”
An invasive species of concern
This worried resident called Olivier Blight, teacher-researcher at the University of Avignon, specialist in ants. That day he came to inspect the housing estate to try to map this new home: “The tiny orange dots that move there, like that, along the wall, they are electric ants”he describes. “It is native to South America, Central America. It has colonized several territories such as Hawaii, New Caledonia and Australia and is now spreading to Europe.
Detected in Spain in 2016, it was reported for the first time in the Var in 2022, in a residence in Toulon. According to myrmecologist Olivier Blight, it undoubtedly arrived through the trade in ornamental plants in garden centers, “one of the main routes of introduction of ants into the world”. It is international trade that explains its spread, but global warming undoubtedly facilitates its establishment in countries where it did not exist before.
This ant is particularly invasive because it reproduces very quickly, by parthenogenesis, a form of cloning which does not require fertilization by a male.
A danger for biodiversity
She is small but formidable. “Its strength is not its size but its number. And its venom which is quite powerful “, warns Olivier Blight. This ant threatens other local ants and insects and, through a cascade effect, the animals that feed on them. In certain forests of New Caledonia, for example, it has created a vacuum around it: “In New Caledonia, when you walk in a forest that is invaded by electric ants, you no longer hear any sound. We no longer hear many insects or birds. Either they leave the area because they are disturbed or they are eliminated by the electric ant“.
Since 2022, it has been classified as an “invasive species of concern” by the European Union. Olivier Blight warned the health and environmental authorities following the discovery of this second outbreak. In the meantime, the researcher alerts the residents with the means at hand and distributes them an information leaflet on this formidable ant, which is still little known to the general public. The goal is to limit its spread as quickly as possible. For example, the transport of green waste from this subdivision should be avoided. But to eradicate it is much more difficult. Commercially sold ant powders are ineffective.
“There is no product suitable for combating invasive ants in France and Europe.“, explains Luc Gomel, agronomist, specialist in the fight against invasive ants, who came to inspect this second home by “curiosity”. “This is why for the first reported outbreak (in Toulon in 2022), we sought a product supplied by the Australians..”
To obtain authorization to use this toxic bait, it was necessary to demonstrate that it was not dangerous for the French environment or for users. “We have obtained the exemption from the State services concerned and from the health agency ANSES. The idea is therefore to extend this exemption to be able to treat this new outbreak.” But the time of administration is not that of the electric ant. It is a race against time to limit its spread.
