title: Global invasion history of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta.
abstract: The fire ant Solenopsis invicta is a significant pest that was inadvertently introduced into the southern United States almost a century ago and more recently into California and other regions of the world. An assessment of genetic variation at a diverse set of molecular markers in 2144 fire ant colonies from 75 geographic sites worldwide revealed that at least nine separate introductions of S. invicta have occurred into newly invaded areas and that the main southern U.S. population is probably the source of all but one of these introductions. The sole exception involves a putative serial invasion from the southern United States to California to Taiwan. These results illustrate in stark fashion a severe negative consequence of an increasingly massive and interconnected global trade and travel system.
authors.affiliation: USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, 1600/1700 Southwest 23rd Drive, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Marina S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Ascunce
authors.forename: Chin-Cheng
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oakey
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Calcaterra
authors.forename: Wen-Jer
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Cheng-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goudet
authors.forename: Kenneth G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: DeWayne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shoemaker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000235:genetics; D001208:Asia; D001315:Australia; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003132:Commerce; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D017344:Genes, Insect; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D058865:Introduced Species; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011157:Population Dynamics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013020:South America; D014195:Travel; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial