Fly latest weapon in war against fire ants

SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture hopes a tiny fly imported from Brazil will reduce the numbers of an earlier Brazilian import, the fire ant.

Experts say the phorid fly will almost certainly not wipe out the fire ant, which has spread from Texas across the southeast since its arrival in the 1930s, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

Molly Keck, a program specialist with Texas A&M's Cooperative Extension Service, has been trying to get the phorid flies established in the city-owned Walker Ranch Historic Park. She releases the flies on fire ant mounds.

The flies lay their eggs on the ants and the larvae, once they hatch, eat the ants' brains out. In a couple of months, Keck will return to see if the phorid fly population has grown.

Keck said the flies are superior to insecticide because they attack nothing except fire ants.