A giant type of ant known as Tapinoma Magnum, which comes from the Mediterranean and North Africa region, began to crawl north towards European countries.
These ants spread quickly and establish giant colonies that include up to 20 million ants that extend over an area of 60 acres, and disposal are almost impossible.
Anyone who dares to crush a T. Magnum ant is an unpleasant smell that resembles spoiled butter.
These invaders were topped in Switzerland last week, while officials in the areas surrounding the capital, Zurich, are trying to get rid of this scourge, according to The Sun.
Switzerland in the face of a creeping war
In Switzerland, the rural areas surrounding the city of Zurich have suffered this ants since 2018. Despite the tremendous efforts to eliminate it, the ants are still firmly firmly in four regions.
The ants suspended a huge construction project worth one billion pounds after it fully settled on the site scheduled to dig a multi -track rail tunnel. In the nearby Over Deir Limat area, a supernatural colony invaded the potato field with an area of five hectares, equivalent to about seven football fields.
“There were a lot of ants, to the point that you no longer see the Earth,” the local residents told the Swiss SRF.
But this diminishes in front of the colony located in Volksvil, on the other side of Zurich, where insects are spread in an area equivalent to 35 football fields. The size of the invasion was legally forced the local authorities to intervene.
“In areas that are witnessing widespread outbreaks, coordinated intervention is needed by specialists,” said Catharina Weber of the Zurich construction department. This means that it is necessary to develop a plan, and it is necessary to use specialized pests who can target nests directly with insecticides.
The destructive power of T
Unlike most types of ants that organize a few thousand workers around one queen, T. magnum clans include up to 20 million ants and hundreds of queens.
Instead of attacking each other, the small colonies integrate into alliances to form unified giant colonies. It is giant colonies, displaces local species, and may even cause construction problems as a result of drilling the ground under the sidewalks.
Chaos on roads in Germany
Ant colonies also extended to France, but Germany was the most affected. In the quiet town of Keela in southwestern Germany, the ants invaded the entire region. The local residents reported that they saw the sidewalks and the edges ding, while the insects were transporting the soil away, causing chaos on the roads. One of the children’s stadiums was forced to close after the ants took over the entire area and turned it into a giant nest.
Warning from the British authorities
Although this type has not yet reached the United Kingdom, a spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said that the agency remains vigilant about this threat. The ministry recommended any person noticing a kind of non -local insect to photograph and report it.
“As a science, there are no records that indicate that Tapinoma Magnum has settled in the United Kingdom, but of course this may happen in the future,” said Mike Fox, Director of the Association for Beeopra, Parches, and Ants.
“Studies conducted on Tapinoma Magnum colonies in Switzerland showed that these ants live in the open air, and he can continue to search for food even at low temperatures of up to 6 degrees Celsius during the winter months,” he told The Sun.
The British Pest Control Association warned of The Sun that the United Kingdom was threatened with this “creeping campaign.” The association explained that this type of ant is mainly spread through gardening imports, especially plants and trees planted in containers coming from the Mediterranean region.
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It also recommended that any person who is concerned about an ant infection should communicate with a professional in pest control for help.
