title: Environment: early ant plagues in the New World.
abstract: The identity and origin of the West Indian plague ants of the early sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries have long been a mystery. By reviewing historic accounts with an analysis of the present-day Caribbean ant fauna, I have narrowed the list of suspects to two species and their insect symbionts.
authors.affiliation: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-2902, USA. ewilson@oeb.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Edward O
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000862:Ant Venoms / Q000266:history / Q000633:toxicity; D001000:Ants / Q000145:classification / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology*; D005843:Geography; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D006801:Humans; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings / Q000266:history; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000502:physiology; D014900:West Indies
chemical_list: D000862:Ant Venoms