CreatureData

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.

No freely licensed photo yet

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.

  1. Anguillainvasive
  2. Antigua & Barbudainvasive
  3. Australiainvasive
  4. Bahamasinvasive
  5. Boliviainvasive
  6. British Virgin Islandsinvasive
  7. Cayman Islandsinvasive
  8. Chinainvasive
  9. Jamaicainvasive
  10. Mexicoinvasive
  11. Trinidad & Tobagoinvasive
  12. Malaysia
  13. Paraguay
  14. St. Kitts & Nevis
  15. St. Lucia
  16. Turks & Caicos Islands
  17. 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?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderHymenoptera
  5. familyFormicidae
  6. genusSolenopsis
  7. 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

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the red fire ant

Other species in the same genus Solenopsis.

Thief ant

Solenopsis molesta

FormicidaeNo free photo yet

BIFA

Solenopsis richteri

FormicidaeNo free photo yet

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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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Red fire ant (Solenopsis invicta). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-fire-ant

MLA

“Red fire ant (Solenopsis invicta).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-fire-ant.

BibTeX
@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}
}