Yellow Crazy Ants

About Rafting

Yellow crazy ants can raft on water by holding onto each other and trapping air pockets to stay afloat. Larvae are placed at the bottom to capture air with their body hairs, while adults rotate being submerged. They use air bubbles trapped by hairs on their gaster (stomach) to breathe underwater.

Why Yellow Crazy Ants Raft

Rafting helps yellow crazy ants survive and expand outside their current environment, especially during the wet season when water levels rise. These ants live in high densities near waterways and culverts, moving to drier locations when necessary.

Dangers of Rafting

Rafting is dangerous because:

• yellow crazy ants become more aggressive while rafting

• they spray formic acid, which can burn and irritate skin and eyes

• pets and livestock are at risk of injury if they encounter these ants.

Yellow crazy ants form super colonies with dense populations. The sheer number of ants overwhelm both invertebrates and vertebrates, causing a loss of biodiversity. This then causes impacts to plant populations, disrupting natural processes in environments such as pollination, seed dispersal and decomposition of organic matter.

People’s lifestyles are impacted, and pets can receive acid burns from the formic acid sprayed by yellow crazy ants. Impacts include damage to household electrical appliances and wiring. Agriculture and horticulture industries are also impacted.

Yellow crazy ants:

• are a yellow to brownish ant with long and slender body (approximately 4mm long)

• have an abdomen that is dark brown, sometimes striped

• have legs and antennae that are very long

• have an erratic walking style.

Human-assisted spread is far more prevalent than natural spread (raft downstream, natural expansion). Yellow crazy ants are often unknowingly transported, commonly in freight pallets and packaging, timber products and landscaping supplies.

Help prevent the spread of yellow crazy ants:

• do not sell produce or items that contain yellow crazy ants

• take a close-up and clear photo and report ants suspected to be  yellow crazy ants to Council

• when ordering agricultural or horticultural products, ask suppliers what invasive biosecurity matter is possible/likely to be in their products before buying, and decide for yourself whether you can deal with the biosecurity risk

• companies should develop a pest management plan relevant to biosecurity risks associated with their business

• treat areas where the risk of spread is heightened (for example, stored pallets, crushing plants, etc).

Check for yellow crazy ants near the base of trees, under rocks, and in man-made structures along creek lines.

Within Townsville, yellow crazy ants are known to be found in:

• Alligator Creek

• Black River

• Brookhill

• Douglas

• Julago

• Mount Saint John

• Nome

• Oak Valley

• Roseneath

• Stuart.

The Townsville Biosecurity Plan outlines Council's strategies for preventing the introduction of restricted pest plants and animals in Townsville, and eradicating and containing them:

• Townsville Biosecurity Plan 2020-2024 (PDF)

• Quick Reference Guide Biosecurity Plan - Yellow Crazy Ant (PDF)

• Prevention and Control Program for Yellow Crazy Ants under the Biosecurity Act 2014 (PDF)

• Surveillance Program for Yellow Crazy Ants under the Biosecurity Act 2014 (PDF).

• Yellow Crazy Ant Factsheet (PDF)

• Yellow Crazy Ant Treatment Factsheet (PDF).

• AntOff Permit (PER92715) (PDF)

• AntOff Safety Data Sheet (PDF)

• AntOff Label (PDF)

• Yellow Crazy Ants Factsheet (PDF)

• Yellow Crazy Ant Risk Assessment (PDF)

• Report Yellow Crazy Ants (YouTube)

• What Yellow Crazy Ants Can do to Australia's Wet Tropics (YouTube)