Red fire ant
Solenopsis invicta Buren, 1972
Status not recordedbees wasps and ants
The red fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) is a species in the family Formicidae, order Hymenoptera.
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Quick facts about the red fire ant
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Resting metabolic rate
- 0.00664 mW
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the red fire ant live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the red fire ant as introduced in 17 countries, and flagged as invasive in 11 of them.
- Anguillainvasive
- Antigua & Barbudainvasive
- Australiainvasive
- Bahamasinvasive
- Boliviainvasive
- British Virgin Islandsinvasive
- Cayman Islandsinvasive
- Chinainvasive
- Jamaicainvasive
- Mexicoinvasive
- Trinidad & Tobagoinvasive
- Malaysia
- Paraguay
- St. Kitts & Nevis
- St. Lucia
- Turks & Caicos Islands
- United States
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
Is the red fire ant endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the red fire ant classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderHymenoptera
- familyFormicidae
- genusSolenopsis
- SpeciesSolenopsis invicta Buren, 1972
Synonyms Solenopsis invica, Solenopsis saevissima var. wagneri, Solenopsis saevissima wagneri, Solenopsis wagneri
Other names and names in other languages (31)
- Argentinian fire antEnglish
- Red imported fire antEnglish
- Red invasive fire antEnglish
- RIFAEnglish
- South American fire antEnglish
- Rote FeuerameiseGerman
- Ruĝa fajrformikoEsperanto
- Hormiga roja argentina de fuegoSpanish
- مورچه آتشین وارداتی قرمزPersian
- TulimuurahainenFinnish
- Fourmi de feu rougeFrench
- Formica di fuocoItalian
- ヒアリJapanese
- От құмырсқаKazakh
- 붉은불개미Korean
- Rode vuurmierDutch
- Formiga-de-fogoPortuguese
- Красный огненный муравейRussian
- Rdeča ognjena mravljaSlovenian
- röd eldmyraSwedish
- มดคันไฟอิวิคต้าThai
- Kiến lửa đỏVietnamese
- 紅火蟻Chinese
- Fourmi de feuFrench
- Grande fourmi de feuFrench
- アカヒアリJapanese
- Rode brandmierDutch
- Formiga-vermelha-do-fogoPortuguese
- ToicinheraPortuguese
- 入侵紅火蟻Chinese
- 红火蚁Chinese
Relatives of the red fire ant
Other species in the same genus Solenopsis.
Common European thief ant
Solenopsis fugax
Thief ant
Solenopsis molesta
Tropical fire ant
Solenopsis geminata
BIFA
Solenopsis richteri
Southern fire ant
Solenopsis xyloni
Golden fire ant
Solenopsis aurea
CompareRed fire ant vs Common European thief antRed fire ant vs Thief antRed fire ant vs Tropical fire antRed fire ant vs BIFA
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
Is the red fire ant an invasive species?
In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the red fire ant as invasive in 11 countries, including Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas and Bolivia. It lists it as introduced in 17 in all.
What kind of animal is the red fire ant?
The red fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) belongs to the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
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CreatureData. (2026). Red fire ant (Solenopsis invicta). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-fire-ant
“Red fire ant (Solenopsis invicta).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-fire-ant.
@misc{red_fire_ant_2026,
title = {Red fire ant (Solenopsis invicta)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-fire-ant},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}