Sucrose Bait Base Preference of Selected Urban Pest Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract:
Choice experiments determined sucrose bait base preference by using laboratory colonies of 10 species of urban pest ants, namely Monomorium pharaonis (L.), Monomorium floricola (Jerdon), Monomorium destructor (Jerdon), Monomorium orientale Mayr, Tapinoma indicum (Forel), Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fabricius), Anoplolepis gracilipes (Fr. Smith), Paratrechina longicornis (Latrielle), Pheidole sp. and Solenopsis geminata (Fabricius). Four bait bases (liquid, gel, paste and granule) without toxicants were prepared in 30% sucrose w/w. They were presented simultaneously to the foraging ants. The number of ants foraging to each bait base was recorded after 60 minutes. Results indicated that liquid bait base was the most attractive base to all species tested (with exception to Pheidole sp. and S. geminata), followed by gel bait base. Granular bait base was only attractive to Pheidole sp. and S. geminata while response to paste bait was limited. T. indicum, T. melanocephalum, P. longicornis and A. gracilipes foraged very quickly to both liquid and gel bait bases (mean = 5.4 - 9.4 min after introduction), when compared to the paste and granular bait bases (mean = 8.4 and 20.3 min). On the other hand, S. geminata and Pheidole sp. took > 29 min for the first forager to arrive at a bait base.