title: Red imported fire ant

text: In the United States, the red imported fire ant first arrived in the seaport of Mobile, Alabama, by cargo ship between 1933 and 1945. Arriving with an estimated 9 to 20 unrelated queens, the red imported fire ant was only rare at the time, as entomologists were unable to collect any specimens (with the earliest observations first made in 1942, preceded by a population expansion in 1937); the population of these ants exploded by the 1950s. Since its introduction to the United States, the red imported fire ant has spread throughout the southern states and northeastern Mexico, negatively affecting wildlife and causing economic damage. The expansion of red imported fire ants may be limited since they are almost wiped out during Tennessee winters, thus they may be reaching their northernmost range. However, global warming may allow the red imported fire ant to expand its geographical range. As of 2004, the ant is found in 13 states and occupies over 128 million hectares of land, and as many as 400 mounds can be found on a single acre of land. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that they expand westward per year. Likely due to absence of South American competitors - and lower numbers of native competitors - "S. invicta" dominates more extrafloral nectaries and hemipteran honeydew sources in the southern USA than in its home range.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Red imported fire ants were first discovered in Queensland, Australia, in 2001. The ants were believed to be present in shipping containers arriving at the Port of Brisbane, most likely from North America. Anecdotal evidence suggests fire ants may have been present in Australia for six to eight years prior to formal identification. The potential damage from the red imported fire ant prompted the Australian government to respond rapidly. A joint state and federal funding of A$175 million was granted for a six-year eradication programme. Following years of eradication, eradication rates of greater than 99% from previously infested properties were reported. The program received extended Commonwealth funding of around A$10 million for at least another two years to treat the residual infestations found most recently. In December 2014, a nest was identified at Port Botany, Sydney, in New South Wales. The port was quarantined, and a removal operation took place. In September 2015, populations originating from the United States were found at a Brisbane airport.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Red imported fire ants have spread beyond North America. The Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) reports the ant inhabiting from three of the Cayman Islands. However, the sources the ISSG cited give no report about them on the island, but recent collections indicate that they are present. In 2001, red imported fire ants were discovered in New Zealand, but they were successfully eradicated several years later. Red imported fire ants have been reported in India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. However, these reports were found to be incorrect as the ants collected there were incorrectly identified as the red imported fire ant. In Singapore, the ants were most likely misidentified as well. In India, surveyed ants in Sattur Taluk, India listed the red imported fire ant there in high populations; meanwhile, no reports of the ant were made outside the surveyed area. In 2016, scientists state that despite no presence of the ant in India, the red imported fire ant will more than likely find suitable habitats within India's ecosystem if given the opportunity. The reports in the Philippines most likely misidentified collected material as the red imported fire ant, as no populations have been found there. It was discovered in Hong Kong and mainland China in 2004, where they have spread into several provinces as well as Macau and Taiwan. No geographic or climatic barriers prevent these ants from spreading further, thus it may spread throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia. In Europe, a single nest was found in the Netherlands in 2002.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Around 1980, red imported fire ants began spreading throughout the West Indies, where they were first reported in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Between 1991 and 2001, the ant was recorded from Trinidad and Tobago, several areas in the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Since then, red imported fire ants have been recorded on more islands and regions, with new populations discovered in: Anguilla, Saint Martin, Barbuda, Montserrat, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Aruba, and Jamaica. The ants recorded from Aruba and Jamaica have only been found on golf courses; these courses import sod from Florida, so such importation may be an important way for the ant to spread throughout the West Indies.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Populations found outside North America originate from the United States. In 2011, the DNA of specimens from Australia, China, and Taiwan was analysed with results showing that they are related to those in the United States. Despite its spread, "S. geminata" has a greater geographical range than the red imported fire ant, but it can be easily displaced by it. Because of this, almost all of its exotic range in North America has been lost and the ant has almost disappeared there. On roadsides in Florida, 83% of these sites had "S. geminata" present when the red imported fire ant was absent, but only 7% when it is present. This means that the ant can probably invade many tropical and subtropical regions where "S. geminata" populations are present.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Red imported fire ants are extremely resilient and have adapted to contend with both flooding and drought conditions. If the ants sense increased water levels in their nests, they link together and form a ball or raft that floats, with the workers on the outside and the queen inside. The brood is transported to the highest surface. They are also used as the founding structure of the raft, except for the eggs and smaller larvae. Before submerging, the ants will tip themselves into the water and sever connections with the dry land. In some cases, workers may deliberately remove all males from the raft, resulting in the males drowning. The longevity of a raft can be as long as 12 days. Ants that are trapped underwater escape by lifting themselves to the surface using bubbles which are collected from submerged substrate. Owing to their greater vulnerability to predators, red imported fire ants are significantly more aggressive when rafting. Workers tend to deliver higher doses of venom, which reduces the threat of other animals attacking. Due to this, and because a higher workforce of ants is available, rafts are potentially dangerous to those that encounter them.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Necrophoric behaviour occurs in the red imported fire ant. Workers discard uneaten food and other such wastes away from the nest. The active component was not identified, but the fatty acids accumulating as a result of decomposition were implicated and bits of paper coated with synthetic oleic acid typically elicited a necrophoric response. The process behind this behaviour in imported red fire ants was confirmed by Blum (1970): unsaturated fats, such as oleic acid, elicit corpse-removal behaviour. Workers also show differentiated responses towards dead workers and pupae. Dead workers are usually taken away from the nest, whereas the pupae may take a day for a necrophoric response to occur. Pupae infected by "Metarhizium anisopliae" are usually discarded by workers at a higher rate; 47.5% of unaffected corpses are discarded within a day, but for affected corpses this figure is 73.8%.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Red imported fire ants have negative impacts on seed germination. The extent of the damage, however, depends on how long seeds are vulnerable for (dry and germinating) and by the abundance of the ants. One study showed that while these ants are attracted to and remove seeds which have adapted for ant dispersal, red imported fire ants damage these seeds or move them in unfavourable locations for germination. In seeds given to colonies, 80% of "Sanguinaria canadensi" seeds were scarified and 86% of "Viola rotundifolia" seeds were destroyed. Small percentages of longleaf pine ("Pinus palustris") seeds deposited by workers successfully germinate, thus providing evidence that red imported fire ants help the movement of seeds in the longleaf pine ecosystem. Elaiosome-bearing seeds are collected at a higher rate in contrast to nonelaiosome-bearing seeds and do not store them in their nests, but rather in surface trash piles in the mound vicinity.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Colonies of the red imported fire ant have tunneling surfaces that protrude out of the surfaces where workers forage. These areas of protrusion tend to be within their own territory, but greater ant colonisation can affect this. Tunnels are designed to allow effective body, limb and antennae interactions with walls, and a worker can also move exceptionally fast inside them (more than nine bodylengths per second). The holes exit out of any point within the colony's territory, and foraging workers may need to travel half a metre to reach the surface. Assuming the average forager travels 5 m, over 90% of foraging time is inside the tunnels during the day and rarely at night. Workers forage in soil temperatures reaching 27 °C (80 °F) and surface temperatures of 12–51 °C (53–123 °F). Workers exposed to temperatures of 42 °C (107 °F) are at risk of dying from the heat. The rate of workers foraging drops rapidly by autumn, and they rarely emerge during winter. This may be due to the effects of soil temperature, and a decreased preference for food sources. These preferences only decrease when brood production is low. In the northern regions of the United States, areas are too cold for the ant to forage, but in other areas such as Florida and Texas, foraging may occur all year round. When it is raining, workers do not forage outside, as exit holes are temporarily blocked, pheromone trails are washed away, and foragers may be physically struck by the rain. The soil's moisture may also affect the foraging behaviour of workers.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: When workers are foraging, it is characterised by three steps: searching, recruitment, and transportation. Workers tend to search for honey more often than other food sources, and the weight of food has no impact on searching time. Workers may recruit other nestmates if the food they have found is too heavy, taking as much as 30 minutes for the maximum number of recruited workers to arrive. Lighter food sources take less time and are usually transported rapidly. Foraging workers become scouts and search solely for food outside the surface, and may subsequently die two weeks later from old age.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Workers communicate by a series of semiochemicals and pheromones. These communication methods are used in a variety of activities, such as nestmate recruitment, foraging, attraction, and defence; for example, a worker may secrete trail pheromones if a food source it discovered is too large to carry. These pheromones are synthesized by the Dufour's gland and may trail from the discovered food source back to the nest. The components in these trail pheromones are also species-specific to this ant only, in contrast to other ants with common tail pheromones. The poison sack in this species has been identified as being the novel storage site of the queen pheromone; this pheromone is known to elicit orientation in worker individuals, resulting in the deposition of brood. It is also an attractant, where workers aggregate toward areas where the pheromone has been released. A brood pheromone is possibly present, as workers are able to segregate brood by their age and caste, which is followed by licking, grooming and antennation. If a colony is under attack, workers will release alarm pheromones. However, these pheromones are poorly developed in workers. Workers can detect pyrazines which are produced by the alates; these pyrazines may be involved in nuptial flight, as well as an alarm response.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Red imported fire ants can distinguish nestmates and non-nestmates through chemical communication and specific colony odours. Workers prefer to dig into nest materials from their own colony and not from soil in unnested areas or from other red imported fire ant colonies. One study suggests that as a colony's diet is similar, the only difference between nested and unnested soil was the nesting of the ants themselves. Therefore, workers may transfer colony odour within the soil. Colony odour can be affected by the environment, as workers in lab-reared colonies are less aggressive than those in the wild. Queen-derived cues are able to regulate nestmate recognition in workers and amine levels. However, these cues do not play a major role in colony-level recognition, but they can serve as a form of caste-recognition within nests. Workers living in monogyne societies tend to be extremely aggressive and attack intruders from neighbouring nests. In queenless colonies, the addition of alien queens or workers does not increase aggression among the population.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Red imported fire ants are omnivores, and foragers are considered to be scavengers rather than predators. The ants' diet consists of dead mammals, arthropods, insects, earthworms, vertebrates, and solid food matter such as seeds. However, this species prefers liquid over solid food. The liquid food the ants collect is sweet substances from plants or honeydew-producing hemipterans. Arthropod prey may include dipteran adults, larvae and pupae, and termites. The consumption of sugar amino acid is known to affect recruitment of workers to plant nectars. Mimic plants with sugar rarely have workers to feed on them, whereas those with sugar and amino acids have considerable numbers. The habitats where they live may determine the food they collect the most; for example, forage success rates for solid foods are highest in lakeshore sites, while high levels of liquid sources were collected from pasture sites. Specific diets can also alter the growth of a colony, with laboratory colonies showing high growth if fed honey-water. Colonies that feed on insects and sugar-water can grow exceptionally large in a short period of time, whereas those that do not feed on sugar-water grow substantially slower. Colonies that do not feed on insects cease brood production entirely. Altogether, the volume of food digested by nestmates is regulated within colonies. Larvae are able to display independent appetites for sources such as solid proteins, amino acid solutions, and sucrose solutions, and they also prefer these sources over dilute solutions. Such behaviour is due to their capability to communicate hunger to workers. The rate of consumption depends on the type, concentration, and state of the food on which they feed. Workers tend to recruit more nestmates to food sources filled with high levels of sucrose than to protein.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Food distribution plays an important role in a colony. This behaviour varies in colonies, with small workers receiving more food than larger workers if a small colony is seriously deprived of food. In larger colonies, however, the larger workers receive more food. Workers can donate sugar water efficiently to other nestmates, with some acting as donors. These "donors" distribute their food sources to recipients, which may also act as donors. Workers may also share a greater portion of their food with other nestmates. In colonies that are not going through starvation, food is still distributed among the workers and larvae. One study shows that honey and soybean oil were fed to the larvae after 12 to 24 hours of being retained by the workers. The ratio distribution of these food sources was 40% towards the larvae and 60% towards the worker for honey, and for soybean oil this figure was around 30 and 70%, respectively. Red imported fire ants also stockpile specific food sources such as insect pieces rather than consuming them immediately. These pieces are usually transported below the mound surface and in the driest and warmest locations.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: This species engages in trophallaxis with the larvae. Regardless of the attributes and conditions of each larva, they are fed roughly the same amount of liquid food. The rate of trophallaxis may increase with larval food deprivation, but such increase depends on the size of each larva. Larvae that are fed regularly tend to be given small amounts. To reach satiation, all larvae regardless of their size generally require the equivalent of eight hours of feeding.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: A number of insects, arachnids, and birds prey on these ants, especially when queens are trying to establish a new colony. While in the absence of defending workers, the fire ant queens must rely on their venom to keep off competitor species Many species of dragonfly, including "Anax junius", "Pachydiplax longipennis", "Somatochlora provocans", and "Tramea carolina", capture the queens while they are in flight; 16 species of spiders, including the wolf spider "Lycosa timuga" and the southern black widow spider ("Latrodectus mactans"), actively kill red imported fire ants. "L. mactans" captures all castes of the species (the workers, queens, and males) within its web. These ants constitute 75% of prey captured by the spider. Juvenile "L. mactans" spiders have also been seen capturing the ants. Other invertebrates that prey on red imported fire ants are earwigs ("Labidura riparia") and tiger beetles ("Cicindela punctulata"). Birds that eat these ants include the chimney swift ("Chaetura pelagica"), the eastern kingbird ("Tyrannus tyrannus"), and the eastern bobwhite ("Colinus virginianus virginianus"). The eastern bobwhite attacks these ants by digging out the mounds looking for young queens. Red imported fire ants have been found in stomach contents inside of armadillos.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Many species of ants have been observed attacking queens and killing them. Apparently, the venom of fire ant queens is chemically adapted to rapidly subdue offending competitor ants. Predatory ants include: "Ectatomma edentatum", "Ephebomyrmex" spp., "Lasius neoniger", "Pheidole" spp., "Pogonomyrmex badius," and "Conomyrma insana", which is among the most significant. "C. insana" ants are known to be effective predators against founding queens in studied areas of Northern Florida. The pressure of attacks initiated by "C. insana" increase over time, causing queens to exhibit different reactions, including escaping, concealment, or defence. Most queens that are attacked by these ants are ultimately killed. Queens that are in groups have higher chances of survival than solitary queens if they are attacked by "S. geminata". Ants can attack queens on the ground and invade nests by stinging and dismembering them. Other ants such as "P. porcula" try to take the head and gaster, and "C. clara" invade in groups. Also, certain ants try to drag queens out of their nests by pulling on the antennae or legs. Small, monomorphic ants rely on recruitment to kill queens and do not attack them until reinforcements arrive. Aside from killing the queen, some ants may steal the eggs for consumption or emit a repellent that is effective against red imported fire ants. Certain ant species may raid colonies and destroy them.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Flies in the genus "Pseudacteon" (phorid flies) are known to be parasitic to ants. Some species within this genus, such as Pseudacteon tricuspis, have been introduced into the environment for the purpose of controlling the imported fire ant. These flies are parasitoids of the red imported fire ant in its native range in South America, and can be attracted through the ants' venom alkaloids. One species, "Pseudacteon obtusus", attacks the ant by landing on the posterior portion of the head and laying an egg. The location of the egg makes it impossible for the ant to successfully remove it. The larvae migrate to the head, then develop by feeding on the hemolymph, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue. After about two weeks, they cause the ant's head to fall off by releasing an enzyme that dissolves the membrane attaching the head to its body. The fly pupates in the detached head capsule, emerging two weeks later. "P. tricuspis" is another phorid fly that is a parasitoid to this species. Although parasitism pressures by these flies do not affect the ants' population density and activity, it has a small effect on a colony population. The strepsipteran insect "Caenocholax fenyesi" is known to infect male ants of this species and attack the eggs, and the mite "Pyemotes tritici" has been considered a potential biological agent against red imported fire ants, capable of parasitising every caste within the colony. Bacteria, such as "Wolbachia", has been found in the red imported fire ant; three different variants of the bacteria are known to infect the red imported fire ant. However, its effect on the ant is unknown. "Solenopsis daguerrei" is a reproductive parasite to red imported fire ant colonies.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: A large variety of pathogens and nematodes also infect red imported fire ants. Pathogens include "Myrmecomyces annellisae", "Mattesia" spp., "Steinernema" spp., a mermithid nematode, "Vairimorpha invictae", which can be transmitted via live larvae and pupae and dead adults and "Tetradonema solenopsis", which can be fatal to a large portion of a colony. Individuals infected by "Metarhizium anisopliae" tend to perform trophallaxis more frequently and have an enhanced preference to quinine, an alkaloid substance. Phorid flies with "Kneallhazia solenopsae" can serve as vectors in transmitting the disease to the ants. Weakening the colony, infections from this disease are localised within the body fat, with spores only occurring in adult individuals. The mortality of an infected colony tends to be greater in contrast to those that are healthy. These ants are a host to "Conidiobolus", "Myrmicinosporidium durum," and "Beauveria bassiana", each of which are parasitic fungi. Infected individuals have spores all over their bodies and appear darker than usual. The toxicity from antimicrobial property of volatiles produced by the ants can significantly reduce the germination rate of "B. bassiana" within the colony.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: A virus, "S. invicta 1" (SINV-1), has been found in about 20% of fire ant fields, where it appears to cause the slow death of infected colonies. It has proven to be self-sustaining and transmissible. Once introduced, it can eliminate a colony within three months. Researchers believe the virus has potential as a viable biopesticide to control fire ants. Two more viruses have also been discovered: "S. invicta" 2 (SINV-2) and "S. invicta" 3 (SINV-3). Polygynous colonies tend to face greater infections in contrast to monogynous colonies. Multiple virus infections can also occur.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Nuptial flight in red imported fire ants begins during the warmer seasons of the year (spring and summer), usually two days after rain. The time alates emerge and mate is between noon and 3:00pm. Nuptial flights recorded in North Florida have, on average, 690 female and male alates participating in a single flight. Males are the first to leave the nest, and both sexes readily undertake flight with little to no preflight activity. However, workers swarm the mound excitedly stimulated by mandibular glands within the head of the alates. As mounds do not have holes, workers form holes during nuptial flight as a way for the alates to emerge. This behaviour in workers, elicited by the pheromones, includes rapid running and back-and-forth movements, and increased aggression. Workers also cluster themselves around the alates as they climb up on vegetation, and in some cases, attempt to pull them back down before they take flight. Chemical cues from males and females during nuptial flight attract workers, but chemical cues released by workers do not attract other nestmates. It also induces alarm-recruitment behaviour in workers which results in a higher rate of alate retrieval.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Males fly at higher elevations than females: captured males are usually above the surface, whereas the females are only above the surface. A nuptial flight takes place for roughly half an hour and females generally fly for less than before landing. About 95% of queens successfully mate and only mate once; some males may be infertile due to the testicular lobes failing to develop. In polygyne colonies, males do not play a significant role and most are, therefore, sterile; one of the reasons for this is to avoid mating with other ant species. This also makes male mortality selective, which may affect the breeding system, mating success and, gene flow. Ideal conditions for a nuptial flight to begin is when humidity levels are above 80% and when the soil temperature is above 18 °C (64 °F). Nuptial flights only occur when the ambient temperature is 24–32 °C (75–89 °F).


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Colony founding can be done by an individual or in groups, known as pleometrosis. This joint effort of the co-foundresses contributes to the growth and survival of the incipient colony; nests founded by multiple queens begin the growth period with three times as many workers when compared to colonies founded by a single queen. Despite this, such associations are not always stable. The emergence of the first workers instigates queen-queen and queen-worker fighting. In pleometrotic conditions, only one queen emerges victorious, whereas the queens that lost are subsequently killed by the workers. The two factors that could affect the survival of individual queens are their relative fighting capabilities and their relative contribution to worker production. Size, an indicator of fighting capacity, positively correlates with survival rates. However, manipulation of the queen's relative contribution to worker production had no correlation with survival rate.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: A single queen lays around 10 to 15 eggs 24 hours after mating. In established nests, a queen applies venom onto each egg that perhaps contains a signal calling for workers to move it. These eggs remain unchanged in size for one week until they hatch into larvae. By this time, the queen will have laid about 75 to 125 more eggs. The larvae that hatch from their eggs are usually covered in their shell membranes for several days. The larvae can free their mouthparts from their shells using body movements, but still need assistance from workers with hatching. The larval stage is divided into four instars, as observed through the moulting stages. At the end of each moult, a piece of unknown material is seen connected to the exuviae if they are isolated from the workers. The larval stage lasts between six and 12 days before their bodies expand significantly and become pupae; the pupal stage lasts between nine and 16 days.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: As soon as the first individuals reach the pupal stage, the queen ceases egg production until the first workers mature. This process takes two weeks to one month. The young larvae are fed oils which are regurgitated from her crop, as well as trophic eggs or secretions. She also feeds the young her wing muscles, providing the young with needed nutrients. The first generation of workers are always small because of the limit of nutrients needed for development. These workers are known as minims or nanitics, which burrow out of the queen's chamber and commence foraging for food needed for the colony. Mound construction also occurs at this time. Within a month after the first generation is born, larger workers (major workers) start to develop, and within six months, the mound will be noticeable, if viewed, and houses several thousand residents. A mature queen is capable of laying 1,500 eggs per day; all workers are sterile, so cannot reproduce.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: A colony can grow exceptionally fast. Colonies that housed 15–20 workers in May grew to over 7,000 by September. These colonies started to produce reproductive ants when they were a year old, and by the time they were two years old, they had over 25,000 workers. The population doubled to 50,000 when these colonies were three years old. At maturity, a colony can house 100,000 to 250,000 individuals, but other reports suggest that colonies can hold more than 400,000. Polygyne colonies have the potential to grow much larger than monogyne colonies.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Several factors contribute to colony growth. Temperature plays a major role in colony growth and development; colony growth ceases below 24 °C and developmental time decreases from 55 days at temperatures of 24 °C to 23 days at 35 °C. Growth in established colonies only occurs at temperatures between 24 and 36 °C. Nanitic brood also develops far quicker than minor worker brood (around 35% faster), which is beneficial for founding colonies. Colonies that have access to an unlimited amount of insect prey are known to grow substantially, but this growth is further accelerated if they are able to access plant resources colonised by hemipteran insects. In incipient monogyne colonies where diploid males are produced, colony mortality rates are significantly high and colony growth is slow. In some cases, monogyne colonies experience 100% mortality rates in the early stages of development.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: The life expectancy of a worker ant depends on its size, although the overall average is around 62 days. Minor workers are expected to live for about 30 to 60 days, whereas the larger workers live much longer. Larger workers, which have a life expectancy of 60 to 180 days, live 50–140% longer than their smaller counterparts, but this depends on the temperature. However, workers kept in laboratory conditions have been known to live for 10 to 70 weeks (70 days to 490 days); the maximum recorded longevity of a worker is 97 weeks (or 679 days). The queens live much longer than the workers, with a lifespan ranging from two years to nearly seven years.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: In colonies, queens are the only ants able to alter sex ratios which can be predicted. For example, queens originating from male-producing colonies tend to produce predominantly males, while queens that came from female-favoured sex ratio colonies tend to produce females. Queens also exert control over the production of sexuals through pheromones that influence the behaviours of workers toward both male and female larvae.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: There are two forms of society in the red imported fire ant: polygynous colonies and monogynous colonies. Polygynous colonies differ substantially from monogynous colonies in social insects. The former experience reductions in queen fecundity, dispersal, longevity, and nestmate relatedness. Polygynous queens are also less physogastric than monogynous queens and workers are smaller. Understanding the mechanisms behind queen recruitment is integral to understanding how these differences in fitness are formed. It is unusual that the number of older queens in a colony does not influence new queen recruitment. Levels of queen pheromone, which appears to be related to queen number, play important roles in the regulation of reproduction. It would follow that workers would reject new queens when exposed to large quantities of this queen pheromone. Moreover, evidence supports the claim that queens in both populations enter nests at random, without any regard for the number of older queens present. There is no correlation between the number of older queens and the number of newly recruited queens. Three hypotheses have been posited to explain the acceptance of multiple queens into established colonies: mutualism, kin selection, and parasitism. The mutualism hypothesis states that cooperation leads to an increase in the personal fitness of older queens. However, this hypothesis is not consistent with the fact that increasing queen number decreases both queen production and queen longevity. Kin selection also seems unlikely given that queens have been observed to cooperate under circumstances where they are statistically unrelated. Therefore, queens experience no gain in personal fitness by allowing new queens into the colony. Parasitism of preexisting nests appears to be the best explanation of polygyny. One theory is that so many queens attempt to enter the colony that the workers get confused and inadvertently allow several queens to join it.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Monogyne workers kill foreign queens and aggressively defend their territory. However, not all behaviours are universal, primarily because worker behaviours depend on the ecological context in which they develop, and the manipulation of worker genotypes can elicit change in behaviours. Therefore, behaviours of native populations can differ from those of introduced populations. In a study to assess the aggressive behaviour of monogyne and polygyne red fire ant workers by studying interaction in neutral arenas, and to develop a reliable ethogram for readily distinguishing between monogyne and polygyne colonies of red imported fire ants in the field, monogyne and polygyne workers discriminated between nestmates and foreigners as indicated by different behaviours ranging from tolerance to aggression. Monogyne ants always attacked foreign ants independently if they were from monogyne or polygyne colonies, whereas polygyne ants recognised, but did not attack, foreign polygyne ants, mainly by exhibiting postures similar to behaviours assumed after attacks by "Pseudacteon" phorids. Hostile versus warning behaviours were strongly dependent on the social structure of workers. Therefore, the behaviour toward foreign workers was a method of characterising monogyne and polygyne colonies. Most colonies in the southeastern and south-central US tend to be monogynous.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: The monogynous red imported fire ant colony territorial area and the mound size are positively correlated, which, in turn, is regulated by the colony size (number and biomass of workers), distance from neighbouring colonies, prey density, and by the colony's collective competitive ability. In contrast, nestmate discrimination among polygynous colonies is more relaxed as workers tolerate conspecific ants alien to the colony, accept other heterozygote queens, and do not aggressively protect their territory from polygyne conspecifics. These colonies might increase their reproductive output as a result of having many queens and the possibility of exploiting greater territories by means of cooperative recruitment and interconnected mounds.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: A social chromosome is present in the red imported fire ant. This chromosome can differentiate the social organisation of a colony carrying one of two variants of a supergene (B and b) which contains more than 600 genes. The social chromosome has often been compared to sexual chromosomes because they share similar genetic features and they define colony phenotype in a similar way. For example, colonies exclusively carrying the B variant of this chromosome accept single BB queens, but colonies with both B and b variants will accept multiple Bb queens only. Differences in another single gene can also determine whether the colony will have single or multiple queens.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: When polygyne forms invade areas where colonies have not yet been established, the diversity of native arthropods and vertebrates declines greatly. This is evident as populations of isopods, mites and tumblebug scarabs decline significantly. They can also significantly alter the populations of many fly and beetle families, including: Calliphoridae, Histeridae, Muscidae, Sarcophagidae, Silphidae, and Staphylinidae. Despite this, one review found that certain insects may be unaffected by red imported fire ants; for example, the density of isopods decreases in red imported fire ant infested areas, but crickets of the genus "Gryllus" are unaffected. There are some cases where the diversity of certain insect and arthropod species increase in areas where red imported fire ants are present. Red imported fire ants are important predators on cave invertebrates, some of which are endangered species. This includes harvestmen, pseudoscorpions, spiders, ground


title: Red imported fire ant

text: beetles, and pselaphid beetles. The biggest concern is not the ant itself, but the bait used to treat them because this can prove fatal. Stock Island tree snails ("Orthalicus reses") are extinct in the wild; predation by red imported fire ants is believed to be the major factor in the snail's extinction. Overall, red imported fire ants prefer specific arthropods to others, although they attack and kill any invertebrate that cannot defend itself or escape. Arthropod biodiversity increases once red imported fire ant populations are either reduced or eradicated.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Interactions between red imported fire ants and mammals have been rarely documented. However, deaths of live-trapped animals by red imported fire ants have been observed. Mortality rates in eastern cottontail ("Sylvilagus floridanus") young range from 33 to 75% because of red imported fire ants. It is believed that red imported fire ants have a strong impact on many herpetofauna species; scientists have noted population declines in the Florida kingsnake ("Lampropeltis getula floridana"), and eggs and adults of the eastern fence lizard ("Sceloporus undulatus") and six-lined racerunner ("Aspidoscelis sexlineata") are a source of food. Because of this, eastern fence lizards have adapted to have longer legs and new behaviours to escape the red imported fire ant. Additionally, another lizard species, "Sphaerodactylus macrolepis" are also a target of the fire ants' and have developed tactics to fend them off, such as tail flicks. Adult three-toed box turtles ("Terrapene carolina triunguis"), Houston toad ("Anaxyrus houstonensis") juveniles, and American alligator ("Alligator mississippiensis") hatchlings are also attacked and killed by these ants. Despite this mostly-negative association, one study shows that red imported fire ants may be capable of impacting vector-borne disease transmissions by regulating tick populations and altering vector and host dynamics, thereby reducing transmission rates not only to animals, but to humans as well.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Mortality rates have been well observed in birds; there have been instances where no young have survived to adulthood in areas with high fire ant density. Many birds including cliff nesting swallows, ducks, egrets, quail, and terns have been affected by red imported fire ants. Ground nesting birds, particularly the least tern ("Sterna antillarum"), are vulnerable to fire ant attacks. The impact of red imported fire ants on colonial breeding birds is especially severe; waterbirds can experience a mortality rate of 100%, although this factor was lower for early-nesting birds. Brood survival decreases in American cliff swallows ("Petrochelidon pyrrhonota") if they are exposed to foraging workers. Songbird nest survival decreases in areas with red imported fire ants present, but survival rates in white-eyed vireo ("Vireo griseus") and black-capped vireo ("Vireo atricapilla") nests increase from 10% to 31% and 7% to 13% whenever fire ants are not present or when they are unable to attack them. Red imported fire ants may indirectly contribute to low brood survival in the Attwater's prairie chicken. It was first thought that the ants were linked to the decline of overwintering birds such as the loggerhead shrike ("Lanius ludovicianus"), but a later study showed that ant eradication efforts using the pesticide Mirex, which was known to have toxic side effects, was largely to blame.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Red imported fire ants are strong competitors with many ant species. They have managed to displace many native ants which has led to a number of ecological consequences. However, studies show that these ants are not always superior competitors that suppress native ants. Habitat disturbance prior to their arrival, and recruitment limitations, are more plausible reasons why native ants are suppressed. Between "Tapinoma melanocephalum" and "Pheidole fervida", the red imported fire ant is stronger than both species but shows different levels of aggression. For example, they are less hostile towards "T. melanocephalum" in contrast to "P. fervida". Mortality rates in "T. melanocephalum" and "P. fervida" when fighting with red imported fire ants are high, being 31.8% and 49.9% respectively. The mortality rate for red imported fire ant workers, however, is only 0.2% to 12%. The imported crazy ant ("Nylanderia fulva") exhibits greater dominance than the red imported fire ant and has been known to displace them in habitats where they encounter each other in. Larger colonies of pavement ants ("Tetramorium caespitum)" can destroy red imported fire ant colonies, leading entomologists to conclude that this conflict between the two species may help impede the spread of the red imported fire ant. Individuals infected by SINV-1 can be killed faster than healthy individuals by "Monomorium chinense". This means that ants infected with SINV-1 are weaker than their healthy counterparts and more than likely will be eliminated by "M. chinense". However, major workers, whether they are infected or not, are rarely killed.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: In areas it is native to, the red imported fire ant is still a dominant species and coexists with 28 ant species in gallery forest gaps and ten species in xerophytic forest grassland, winning most aggressive interactions with other ants. However, some ants can be co-dominant in areas where they coexist such as the Argentine ant, where they compete symmetrically. Workers regularly engage in food competition with other ants, and can suppress the exploitation of food resources from honeydew-producing hemipterans (specifically from "Phenacoccus solenopsis") from native ants; however, red imported fire ants are unable to eliminate "T. melanocephalum" completely although they consume a higher proportion of food. Instead, the two ants may peacefully coexist and share the honeydew. When encountering neighboring fire ants, workers may take on death-feigning behaviours to avoid them with success. However, such behaviour is only seen in young workers, as older workers either flee or fight back when threatened.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: As mentioned, red imported fire ants and Argentine ants compete with each other. Mortality rates vary in different scenarios (i.e. mortality rates in colony confrontation is lower than those confronting each other in the field). Major workers can also withstand more injuries to their bodies, thus increasing the mortality rate of Argentine ants. For an Argentine ant colony to successfully wipe out a monogyne colony of 160,000 workers, the colony would need 396,800 workers. A colony that has reduced in size due to successful bait treatment are prone to predation by Argentine ants. The ants may play a vital role in removing weakened fire ant colonies, and they may also be important in slowing the spread of these fire ants, especially in heavily infested Argentine ant areas. Despite this, Argentine ant populations in the southeastern United States have declined following the introduction of the red imported fire ant.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Red imported fire ants have formed a relationship with an invasive mealybug, "Phenacoccus solenopsis". Colony growth is known to increase if ants have access to resources produced by "P. solenopsis", and the population density of these mealybugs is significantly higher in areas where red imported fire ants are present (the spread of "P. solenopsis" in areas it is not native is attributed to the presence of the ants). As well as that, the life expectancy and reproductive rate of "P. solenopsis" both increase. These mealybugs may even be transported by workers back to their nest. Predation of "P. solenopsis" decreases due to tending workers interfering with the predation and parasitism by natural enemies. Mealybugs are preyed on by the lady beetle ("Menochilus sexmaculatus") and are hosts of two parasites ("Aenasius bambawalei" and ) if there are no ants present, but this is different if ants are present. Lady beetles are less frequently seen on plants with red imported fire ants, and the rate of "mummy" nymphs is significantly lower. This is clearly evident as scientists observed that cotton aphid ("Aphis gossypii") populations, and the predation of sentinel bollworm eggs, increased in areas with red imported fire ant presence. Red imported fire ants have developed a mutual relationship with another mealybug ("Dysmicoccus morrisoni"). The ants promote the colony growth of "D. morrisoni" through protection, covering the colonies up with debris and collecting the honeydew they secrete.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: The toxicology of red imported fire ant venom has been relatively well studied. The venom is important to the ant, enabling it to capture its prey and to defend itself. Some 14 million people are stung annually in the United States, who may suffer reactions ranging from mild eczema to anaphylactic shock. Most common reactions to fire ant stings are a burning sensation at the sting site, followed by urticaria and pustule formation. Some victims may develop a more serious allergic reaction which can be life-threatening.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: The venom is mainly composed of insoluble alkaloids with a minor watery phase containing some 46 proteins of which four are reported as allergens. Effective immunotherapy is available.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Because of their notoriety and invasive behaviour, red imported fire ants are considered pests. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration estimates more than $5 billion is spent annually on medical treatment, damage, and control in infested areas. In Texas alone, red imported fire ants caused $300 million in damages for livestock, wildlife and public health. Approximately $36 per American household, and more than $250 million has been spent to control and eradicate red imported fire ants. Private agencies spend $25 to $40 million on pesticides annually. Unsuccessful eradication in Australia may cost the economy billions in damages annually and, based on a Queensland government study, the estimated cost could reach $43 billion over 30 years.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Red imported fire ants thrive in urban areas, especially in backyards, golf courses, parks, recreational areas, school grounds, and street verges, in which their presence may deter outdoor activities. If they enter homes or properties, they can harm pets if they are caged, penned, tied or cannot escape. Nests can be built under pavements or even roads, as well as under driveways, foundations, lawns, edges of sidewalks, under patio slabs, in electrical boxes or near power lines. A colony can excavate huge quantities of soil, resulting in structural problems in driveways, pavings and walls, and can also cause the formation of potholes in roads. Additional damage by mounds can be inflicted on trees, yard plants, and pipes; some structures may also collapse. Colonies may migrate into human homes after heavy rain to take refuge from saturated soil.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Not only do they thrive in urban areas, red imported fire ants can damage equipment and infrastructure and impact business, land, and property values. They are also attracted to electricity; electrically stimulated workers release venom alkaloids, alarm pheromones, and recruitment pheromones, which in return attracts more workers to the site. As a result, red imported fire ants can destroy electrical equipment. This is known as magnetism, where scientists have identified internal magnetic materials which may play a role in orientation behaviours. They are known to chew through electrical insulation which causes damage to electric motors, irrigation lines, pumps, signal boxes, transformers, telephone exchanges, and other equipment. Colonies aggregate near electrical fields and are capable of causing short circuits or interfering with switches and equipment such as air conditioners, computers, and water pumps. They are also known to infest airport landing areas and traffic lights.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: In 2002, the farm gate value of decorative producing nurseries in Orange, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties was $1.3 billion. According to author Les Greenberg of the Center for Invasive Species Research, roughly 40% of crops are produced in these three counties, making it one of the major crops in these areas. “The value of California's entire nursery industry in 2002 was estimated at $2.6 billion” (Greenberg, 1). This business is already feeling the effects of quarantine laws that need pesticide soaking before imports can begin. Immediate costs include the spraying of insecticides to all plants in restricted zones.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: The red imported fire ant is a significant agricultural pest in areas where it is not native. They are capable of damaging crops, and they threaten pastures and orchards. The mounds themselves can destroy agricultural equipment such as irrigation systems and damage machinery during harvest time. The ants are known to invade soybean crops causing lower yields, and could cause $156 million in losses for soybean crops in the southeastern United States. Reports from Georgia and North Carolina claim that 16.8 to 49.1 kg/ha of soybeans could not be harvested due to interference from fire ant mounds; combine harvesters skipped over the mounds preventing the crops from being harvested, and farmers raised the cutter bars on their combine harvesters to avoid impacting the mounds. The feeding behaviour of red imported fire ants can result in significant damage to many other crops, including: beans, cabbage, citrus, corn, cucumber, eggplant, okra, peanut, potato, sorghum, sunflower, and sweet potato. The ants also interfere with plants' root systems and feed on young growth. Sometimes, colonies build mounds around or near the base of citrus trees chew off new growth and feed on the flowers or developing fruit. Citrus trees are often girdled or killed.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Despite its pest status and notoriety, the red imported fire ant can be beneficial. The ant is an effective insect predator, so it may serve as a biological agent against other pest species, especially in sugarcane fields. Pest insects the ant kills include: boll weevils ("Anthonomus grandis") in cotton crops, sugarcane borers ("Diatraea saccharalis") in sugarcane fields, horn flies ("Haematobia irritans") in manure, velvetbean caterpillars ("Anticarsia gemmatalis") in soybeans, and whiteflies that are found in greenhouses. A number of studies indicate that red imported fire ants do not interfere or attack insects of economic importance in cotton fields, which has resulted in many farmers in the southeastern regions of the United States viewing red imported fire ants as beneficial. However, some scientists have suggested that the beneficial status of the red imported fire ant is hard to predict when geography, plant size, season, soil moisture and the use of insecticides are not considered. These factors may lower the efficacy of red imported fire ants as pest control agents. Another factor is that workers are indiscriminate and kill beneficial insects such as predators that eat horn flies and other pests in pastures and predators of aphids and scale insects. They also reduce the efficacy of parasitic wasps against pest species by eating the larvae and pupae.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: In comparison to other ant species like "Anoplolepis gracilipes", which rapidly take over areas they have been contained in, red imported fire ants are fairly easy to control. The first proposals to controlling the ant occurred in 1957 when the United States Congress authorised an eradication program using federal and state funding. Research on the ant and its biology has been continuous after the establishment of an eradication program, and many chemicals were used to eliminate them. However, scientists discovered that these insecticides were killing native fauna, and the Environmental Protection Agency subsequently outlawed them. Some scientists even questioned whether the ants were pests or not. Today, it is unlikely that the red imported fire ant will be eradicated in areas such as the United States. Populations can be managed properly if an integrated approach is used. Some scientists have considered using the ants' natural enemies against it; this includes "Kneallhazia solenopsae" and "B. bassiana". Phorid flies have also been viewed as potential biological agents, as they can reduce foraging activity in red imported fire ants and affect population levels. However, they are unable to affect colony growth rate. In addition, parasitic ants, parasitic wasps, mites, other pathogens, nematodes, and fungi have been considered to be potential biological agents. Others suggest that populations can be maintained or reduced by manipulating several ecological factors.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Several baits have been used to control populations. Mounds are destroyed in a matter of weeks if baits are used on them. Baits are considered to be effective and simple to use against red imported fire ants, in comparison to drenching, dusting, or fumigating. They are sprinkled onto the mound then the ants take and consume them. Certain baits such as growth regulator baits, and boric acid-sucrose water baits, benefit native fauna and low concentrations are usually required to kill a colony. Others baits used against red imported fire ants include Amdro, Ascend, hydramethylnon, and Maxforce.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Solid and liquid bait insecticides, if improperly applied in a location, may be moved through waterflow in to unintended water sources. Often, this happens through non-point sources including many diffuse sources. As snow melts and rainfall moves over and through the ground, the water picks up improperly applied insecticides and deposits them in to larger bodies of water, rivers, wetlands, or percolates in to watersheds.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Researchers have also been experimenting with other methods, such as fumigation, injecting the mound, mound drenching, and surface dusting. Mound drenching entails pouring large volumes of toxic liquid into the mound. While this may affect a large portion of the mound, it is possible it may not reach the queen, thus preventing the destruction of the colony. Surface dusting is similar to mound drenching, except insecticides are applied on top of the mound and soak into the soil when wet. Mound injections use pressurising and injecting insecticides into the mound, but the queen may not be affected by this. Mounds can be eliminated effectively through fumigation. Broadcast treatment is sometimes used by spraying infected areas with agricultural equipment. Finally, spot treatment with insecticides can be used by drilling and injecting the mound with residual insecticide.


title: Red imported fire ant

text: Aside from chemical control, other methods that can be employed against these ants include mechanical and electrical devices. However, it is unknown whether or not these devices are effective. Ant-proofing can be effective against colonies nesting inside buildings by caulking and sealing cracks, which successfully suppresses the population outside the walls. Homeowners have used their own methods to remove mounds by pouring boiling water on them or igniting them with flammable liquids. Although these methods may be effective, they are not recommended because they can be harmful to humans and the environment.


title: Shipworm

text: The shipworms are marine bivalve molluscs in the family Teredinidae: a group of saltwater clams with long, soft, naked bodies. They are notorious for boring into (and commonly eventually destroying) wood that is immersed in sea water, including such structures as wooden piers, docks and ships; they drill passages by means of a pair of very small shells (“valves”) borne at one end, with which they rasp their way through. Sometimes called "termites of the sea", they also are known as "Teredo worms" or simply Teredo (from via ). Carl Linnaeus assigned the common name "Teredo" to the best-known genus of shipworms in the 10th edition of his taxonomic "magnum opus", "Systema Naturæ" (1758).


title: Shipworm

text: Removed from its burrow, the fully grown teredo ranges from several centimetres to about a metre in length, depending on the species. The body is cylindrical, slender, naked and superficially , meaning "worm-shaped". In spite of their slender, worm-like forms, shipworms possess the characteristic morphology of bivalves. The ctinidia lie mainly within the branchial siphon, through which the animal pumps the water that passes over the gills.


title: Shipworm

text: The two siphons are very long and protrude from the posterior end of the animal. Where they leave the end of the main part of the body, the siphons pass between a pair of calcareous plates called pallets. If the animal is alarmed, it withdraws the siphons and the pallets protectively block the opening of the tunnel.


title: Shipworm

text: The pallets are not to be confused with the two valves of the main shell, which are at the anterior end of the animal. Because they are the organs that the animal applies to boring its tunnel, they generally are located at the tunnel's end. They are borne on the slightly thickened, muscular anterior end of the cylindrical body and they are roughly triangular in shape and markedly concave on their interior surfaces. The outer surfaces are convex and in most species are deeply sculpted into sharp grinding surfaces with which the animals bore their way through the wood or similar medium in which they live and feed. The valves of shipworms are separated and the aperture of the mantle lies between them. The small "foot" (corresponding to the foot of a clam) can protrude through the aperture.


title: Shipworm

text: The shipworm lives in waters with oceanic salinity. Accordingly, it is rare in the brackish Baltic Sea, where wooden shipwrecks are preserved for much longer than in the oceans.


title: Shipworm

text: The range of various species has changed over time based on human activity. Many waters in developed countries that had been plagued by shipworms were cleared of them by pollution from the Industrial Revolution and the modern era; as environmental regulation led to cleaner waters, shipworms have returned. Climate change has also changed the range of species; some once found only in warmer and more salty waters like the Caribbean have established habitats in the Mediterranean.


title: Shipworm

text: The longest marine bivalve, "Kuphus polythalamia", was found from a lagoon near Mindanao island in the southeastern part of the Philippines, which belongs to the same group of mussels and clams. The existence of huge mollusks was established for centuries and studied by the scientists, based on the shells they left behind that were the size of baseball bats (length 1.5 meters (5 ft.), diameter 6 cm (2.3 in.) ). The bivalve is a rare creature that spends its life inside an elephant tusk-like hard shell made of calcium carbonate. It has a protective cap over its head which it reabsorbs to burrow into the mud for food. The case of the shipworm is not just the home of the black slimy worm. Instead, it acts as the primary source of nourishment in a non-traditional way.


title: Shipworm

text: "K. polythalamia" sifts mud and sediment with its gills. Most shipworms are relatively smaller and feed on rotten wood. This shipworm instead relies on a beneficial symbiotic bacteria living in its gills. The bacteria use the hydrogen sulfide for energy to produce organic compounds that in turn feed the shipworms, similar to the process of photosynthesis used by green plants to convert the carbon dioxide in the air into simple carbon compounds.


title: Shipworm

text: Scientists found that "K. polythalamia" cooperates with different bacteria than other shipworms, which could be the reason why it evolved from consuming rotten wood to living on hydrogen sulfide in the mud. The internal organs of the shipworm have shrunk from lack of use over the course of its evolution The scientists are planning to study the microbes found in the single gill of "K. polythalamia" to find a new possible antimicrobial substance


title: Shipworm

text: When shipworms bore into submerged wood, bacteria ("Teredinibacter turnerae"), in a special organ called the gland of Deshayes, digest the cellulose exposed in the fine particles created by the excavation.


title: Shipworm

text: The excavated burrow is usually lined with a calcareous tube. The valves of the shell of shipworms are small separate parts located at the anterior end of the worm, used for excavating the burrow.


title: Shipworm

text: Shipworms are marine animals in the phylum Mollusca, order Bivalvia, family Teredinidae. They were included in the now obsolete order "Eulamellibranchiata", in which many documents still place them.


title: Shipworm

text: Ruth Turner of Harvard University was the leading 20th century expert on the Teredinidae; she published a detailed monograph on the family, the 1966 volume "A Survey and Illustrated Catalogue of the Teredinidae" published by the Museum of Comparative Zoology. More recently, the endosymbionts that are found in the gills have been subject to study the bioconversion of cellulose for fuel energy research.


title: Shipworm

text: Shipworm species comprise several genera, of which "Teredo" is the most commonly mentioned. The best known species is "Teredo navalis". Historically, "Teredo" concentrations in the Caribbean Sea have been substantially higher than in most other salt water bodies.


title: Shipworm

text: Shipworms greatly damage wooden hulls and marine piling, and have been the subject of much study to find methods to avoid their attacks. Copper sheathing was used on wooden ships in the latter 18th century and afterwards, as a method of preventing damage by "teredo worms". The first historically documented use of copper sheathing was experiments held by the British Royal Navy with HMS "Alarm", which was coppered in 1761 and thoroughly inspected after a two-year cruise. In a letter from the Navy Board to the Admiralty dated 31 August 1763 it was written "that so long as copper plates can be kept upon the bottom, the planks will be thereby entirely secured from the effects of the worm."


title: Shipworm

text: In the Netherlands the shipworm caused a crisis in the 18th century by attacking the timber that faced the sea dikes. After that the dikes had to be faced with stones. In 2009, "Teredo" have caused several minor collapses along the Hudson River waterfront in Hoboken, New Jersey, due to damage to underwater pilings.


title: Shipworm

text: In the early 19th century, engineer Marc Brunel observed that the shipworm's valves simultaneously enabled it to tunnel through wood and protected it from being crushed by the swelling timber. With that idea, he designed the first tunnelling shield, a modular iron tunnelling framework which enabled workers to tunnel through the unstable riverbed beneath the Thames. The Thames Tunnel was the first successful large tunnel built under a navigable river.


title: Shipworm

text: Henry David Thoreau's poem "Though All the Fates" pays homage to "New England's worm" which, in the poem, infests the hull of "[t]he vessel, though her masts be firm". In time, no matter what the ship carries or where she sails, the shipworm "her hulk shall bore,/[a]nd sink her in the Indian seas".


title: Shipworm

text: In the Norse Saga of Erik the Red, Bjarni Herjólfsson, said to be the first European to discover the Americas, had his ship drift into the Irish Sea where it was eaten up by shipworms. He allowed half the crew to escape in a smaller boat covered in seal tar, while he stayed behind to drown with his men.


title: Shipworm

text: In Palawan and Aklan in the Philippines, the shipworm is called and is eaten as a delicacy. It is prepared as kinilaw—that is, raw (cleaned) but marinated with vinegar or lime juice, chopped chili peppers and onions, a process very similar to ceviche. The taste of the flesh has been compared to a wide variety of foods, from milk to oysters. Similarly, the delicacy is harvested, sold, and eaten from those taken by local natives in the mangrove forests of West Papua, Indonesia and the central coastal peninsular regions of Thailand near Ko Phra Thong.


title: Dan Bakkedahl

text: Dan Bakkedahl (born November 18, 1969) is an American actor and improvisational comedian. He is best known for starring as Tim Hughes on the CBS sitcom "Life in Pieces", as Congressman Roger Furlong on the HBO series "Veep", and as Steve Nugent in the FX comedy series "Legit". From 2005 to 2007, he was a correspondent for three seasons on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart". He additionally has recurring roles on the ABC sitcom "The Goldbergs", the HBO Max comedy series "Made for Love", and the Netflix comedy "Space Force".


title: Dan Bakkedahl

text: Bakkedahl was born in Rochester, Minnesota, and was raised in Stuart, Florida. He is a 1988 graduate of Martin County High School. He is of part Norwegian descent. Bakkedahl attended St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, before completing his studies at Florida State University, where he was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity.


title: Dan Bakkedahl

text: After college, Bakkedahl toured for a year with the Repertory Theater of America. After moving to Chicago, he made a name for himself at the Improv Olympic performing in the influential two-man improv show ZUMPF with his teacher Miles Stroth. Dan went on to perform at the Second City mainstage, eventually writing "Doors Open on the Right", Second City’s 90th revue. In Chicago, he is often noted for having left the Second City mainstage due to artistic differences.


title: Dan Bakkedahl

text: Bakkedahl continues to perform regularly at comedy venues such as the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, Magnet Theater, Second City and Improv Comedy Lab in Los Angeles. He is also a member of the advisory council of the California Shakespeare Theater.


title: Dan Bakkedahl

text: Bakkedahl's first major television work was on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" where he served as a correspondent from 2005 to 2007. After leaving "The Daily Show" in 2007, he has since moved to Los Angeles and went on to have supporting roles in the films such as "Observe and Report", "The Heat", and "This Is 40". He also appeared in the "Snake 'N Bacon" animated special on Adult Swim, which aired on May 10, 2009. In early 2010, he co-starred in the comedy pilot "Our Show" on NBC.


title: Dan Bakkedahl

text: From 2010 through 2011, Bakkedahl appeared in a series of commercials for T-Mobile cellular phones, where he plays a human likeness of AT&T's 3G network.


title: Dan Bakkedahl

text: Bakkedahl has made guest appearances on shows such as "30 Rock", "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Newsreaders", and "The United States of Tara", as well as appearing in recurring roles as "Murray the A/C Repairman" in season three of "Community" and as Congressman Furlong on "Veep". In 2015, he began recurring roles "The Goldbergs" as science teacher Mr. Woodburn and on "The Mindy Project" as Dr. Adrian Bergdahl.


title: Dan Bakkedahl

text: Bakkedahl starred alongside Jim Jeffries and DJ Qualls in the FX comedy series "Legit", which ran for two seasons on FX and FXX. Aftwards, he next starred as Tim Hughes on the CBS sitcom "Life in Pieces", which began airing in 2015 and concluded after four seasons in 2019.


title: Kalamata olive

text: The Kalamata olive is a large, dark brown olive with a smooth, meaty texture, named after the city of Kalamata in the southern Peloponnese, Greece. Often used as table olives, they are usually preserved in wine vinegar or olive oil. Typically the term "Kalamata" legally refers to a region of Greece where these olives are grown, however, a few countries (mainly outside the United States and European Union) use the name for such olives grown anywhere, even outside of Greece. Within the EU (and other countries that ratified PDO agreements or similar laws), the name is protected with PDO status, which means that the name can only be used for olives (and olive oil) from the region around Kalamata. Olives of the same variety grown elsewhere are marketed as Kalamon olives in the EU and, sometimes, elsewhere.


title: Kalamata olive

text: Kalamata olives are so-named because they were originally grown in the region around Kalamata, which includes Messenia and nearby Laconia, both located on the Peloponnese peninsula. They are now grown in many places around the world, including in the United States and Australia. They are almond-shaped, plump, dark purple olives from a tree distinguished from the common olive by the size of its leaves, which grow to twice the size of other olive varieties. The trees are intolerant of cold and are susceptible to "Verticillium" wilt but are resistant to olive knot and to the olive fruit fly.


title: Kalamata olive

text: "Calamata": Agrínio, Aitoliko, Cyprus, Iznik, Kalamata, Lakonia, Messini, Peloponnese, Sparta, Western Cape (South Africa), California (USA);<br>


title: Kalamata olive

text: "Calamon": California, Kalamata, Crete, Lakonia, Lamia, Messini, Patras, Peloponnese, Tunisia, Western Australia;<br>


title: Kalamata olive

text: There are two methods of preparing Kalamata olives, known as the long and short methods. The short method debitters the olives by packing them in water or weak brine, which is changed daily for around a week. Once debittered, they are packed in brine and wine vinegar with a layer of olive oil and slices of lemon. The olives are often slit to decrease the processing time further. The long method involves slitting the olives and placing them in strong brine for up to three months to debitter them. Some polyphenol remains in the olives after processing, giving them a slightly bitter taste.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire are the most successful team in English cricketing history with 33 County Championship titles, including one shared. The team's most recent Championship title was in 2015, following on from that achieved in 2014. The club's limited overs team is called the Yorkshire Vikings and its kit colours are Cambridge blue, Oxford blue, and yellow.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire teams formed by earlier organisations, essentially the old Sheffield Cricket Club, played top-class cricket from the 18th century and the county club has always held first-class status. Yorkshire have competed in the County Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire play most of their home games at Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds. Another significant venue is at North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough, which houses the annual Scarborough Festival. Yorkshire used other grounds in the past including Bramall Lane, Sheffield, which was the club's original home; Horton Park Avenue, Bradford; St George's Road Cricket Ground, Harrogate; The Circle, Kingston upon Hull; and Acklam Park, Middlesbrough. The team drew an average attendance of 8,417 to seven home games in 2015.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: The earliest certain reference to cricket in Yorkshire dates from 1751 when local matches were held in Sheffield and a game took place on or soon after Monday, 5 August at Stanwick, near Richmond, between the Duke of Cleveland's XI and Earl of Northumberland's XI; the same teams earlier played a game at Durham.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Sheffield Cricket Club was probably formed about this time and there are references to Sheffield matches in Derbyshire in 1757 and at Leeds in 1761. A club was formed in York in 1784. Bedale in North Yorkshire was a noted centre in the early 19th century. But cricket in most rural areas was slow to develop. Yorkshire cricket became centred around Sheffield, where it was more organised than in the rest of the county.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: From 1771, Sheffield played semi-regular matches against Nottingham Cricket Club. Nottingham was generally the better side and Sheffield sometimes played with more players to give them a greater chance of victory. Nevertheless, the Sheffield player Tom Marsden was regarded as one of the leading players in the country in the 1820s.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Cricket increased in popularity after one of the 1827 roundarm trial matches was played at the purpose-built Darnall New Ground in Sheffield to evaluate the new style of roundarm bowling. After this match, many new cricket clubs were formed in the county.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: In 1833, "Yorkshire" was first used as a team name, although it contained 11 Sheffield players, for a game against Norfolk at the Hyde Park Ground in Sheffield. The name may have arisen from a need to match the status of Norfolk as a county rather than a city. There were some differences in the organisation of the Yorkshire team vis-à-vis those called Sheffield as it included three amateurs while Sheffield teams were entirely professional. Yorkshire, as such, played intermittently over the next thirty years but was not organised in any formal way. Some of their opponents were Sussex in 1835; Manchester in 1844 and 1845; and Kent in 1849. Also in 1849, Yorkshire played against a "Lancashire" team for the first time, though it was really a Sheffield v Manchester match. By 1855, Sheffield and Yorkshire were playing at Bramall Lane.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: On 7 March 1861, during a meeting at the Adelphi Hotel in Sheffield, a Match Fund Committee was established to run Yorkshire county matches. The committee was made up from the management committee of the Bramall Lane ground and representatives from clubs willing to pay £1 to the fund. But the committee was unable to persuade other clubs that it was not seeking to promote Sheffield cricket and a lack of funds prevented some matches being played in 1862.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: By this time, there were several cricketers with good reputations and the county team was one of the strongest in England. Consequently, on 8 January 1863, Yorkshire County Cricket Club was formed. Membership was unlimited and cost a minimum of 10s and 6d. Like most first-class cricket clubs of the time, Yorkshire relied on private patronage with administrators "paying to serve" and "moneyed enthusiasts" acting as ready match sponsors. The majority of players were freelance professionals who were paid a usual match fee of £5, from which all travel and accommodation had to be paid. Travel could be arduous, living away from home could be "rough" and sometimes the match fee was not enough to cover expenses, especially if, as was often a problem with early Yorkshire cricketers, "the ale-house was a temptation".


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: The first club President was former player Thomas Barker, who had become Mayor of Sheffield, although he probably never attended any meetings. Michael Ellison was the first club Treasurer and at some point early in Yorkshire's history, he assumed the Presidency. Most official accounts record Ellison as Yorkshire's first President. Joseph ("J. B.") Wostinholm became the first of four long-serving club Secretaries in 1864. The first team captain was Roger Iddison, a professional cricketer.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: The objective of the club was to play matches "either in Sheffield or in any other towns of the county according as arrangements may be made." Other locations in Yorkshire were unable or unwilling to host fixtures in the first years of the club, and Bradford and York continued to attempt to organise games in competition with Yorkshire, sometimes causing confusion among other counties. Attempts to form an alternative Yorkshire team continued intermittently until 1884 although, by 1873, most clubs had accepted the authority of the Sheffield-based county club.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire played its initial first-class match against Surrey at The Oval on 4, 5 and 6 June 1863. Surrey scored 315 runs, to which Yorkshire replied with 257. Surrey were bowled out for 60 before the match was drawn. The team recorded their first win in the following match against the strong Nottinghamshire team and although they lost the return match, won two and lost only one of the four matches played in their first season. In 1864, the team won two and lost four of seven matches.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: In 1865, the club and players became involved in a dispute. Five players – Roger Iddison, George Anderson, George Atkinson, Joseph Rowbotham and Ned Stephenson – refused to play against Surrey. This concerned a controversy that arose in 1862 when Iddison and Anderson played for an All-England team against Surrey at The Oval and the Kent bowler Edgar Willsher was repeatedly no-balled for using an overarm action by an umpire whom, they claimed, had been appointed by Surrey specifically for that purpose. Anderson stated in 1865 that he "would not play against those who have combined to sweep us from the cricket field altogether if they could".


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: The dispute was about a point of principle and centred on the right of bowlers to use an overarm action, which had been legalised ahead of the 1864 season. Consequently, with several important players missing, Yorkshire did not win a game in 1865 and were forced to cancel some matches for the 1866 season. The Yorkshire Committee and the players came to an understanding in early 1867 after the players apologised, but Anderson never represented the county again.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: With the player dispute resolved, Yorkshire won all seven of their matches in 1867, defeating Surrey, Lancashire and Cambridgeshire. As a result, the sporting press proclaimed Yorkshire to be the "Champion County" for the first time. The following year, John Thewlis scored the first century for Yorkshire in first-class cricket, against Surrey at The Oval; in 1869, Joseph Rowbotham became the first man to score two centuries in a season for Yorkshire. Yorkshire won four games in both 1868 and 1869; one sports publication regarded Yorkshire as equal champions in the latter year. The team won six out of seven in 1870 to be acclaimed as Champion County again. Much of Yorkshire's success in these years came from the bowling combination of George Freeman and Tom Emmett.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Following Freeman's retirement from regular cricket after 1870, Yorkshire declined, winning fewer games in 1871 and 1872 as Gloucestershire rose to a position of dominance in County Cricket, driven by the success of W. G. Grace and his brothers. Conscious of the need to strengthen the club, Yorkshire instituted a Colts team of young players, but replaced Iddison as captain at the end of the 1872 season. Rowbotham, another professional, assumed the position. For the 1873 season, county cricket moved a step closer towards an organised competition when the counties agreed qualification rules for players to be eligible for a team; for many years, this was considered to be start of the County Championship. However, the counties did not organise a formal competition and the "Champion County" was still decided by the press; some publications disagreed.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Despite containing a side with effective players, Yorkshire did not perform as well as expected over the next seasons. The bowling attack was strong, the team contained some experienced players and critics believed Ephraim Lockwood to be the best professional batsman in the country. In 1873, Yorkshire won seven games and lost five and for the following season, Luke Greenwood replaced Rowbotham as captain. The team had an improved record, but although second only to Gloucestershire, Yorkshire lost heavily in both encounters between the teams. Greenwood retired, Rowbotham resumed the captaincy for 1875, and Lockwood took over in 1876. The team did not perform particularly well in either season, but their worst performance came in 1877, winning two games – but none of the last ten – and losing seven. This placed them eighth out of nine counties.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Tom Emmett then took over as Captain, but the following two seasons brought mixed results as the team displayed inconsistency, often losing to teams they should comfortably have beaten. Derek Hodgson, in his official county history, suggests a lack of discipline in the team throughout these years was to blame; contemporary reports suggested the team drank too much alcohol to be effective. The players also suffered from public attention, receiving generous hospitality at times which impacted on their performances. In these seasons, the team often began well only to lose form later in the season and the Yorkshire committee was reluctant to replace the experienced cricketers with younger players. However, off the field, Yorkshire became increasingly successful, and the profits made by the club paid for improvements to be made to the Bramall Lane Ground and increased player wages through the introduction of travelling expenses and talent money where good performances were financially rewarded. An influx of what proved to be effective new players saw Yorkshire finish second to Lancashire in the unofficial Championship for 1881, but more significant was the debut for the county of Lord Hawke, then aged 21.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: The team faded again in 1882 and Hawke, who had refused the captaincy earlier, was appointed team captain at the end of the season, the first amateur to hold this position. Previous captains had all been professionals: Roger Iddison (1863–72), Joseph Rowbotham (1873 and 1875), Luke Greenwood (1874), Ephraim Lockwood (1876–77) and Tom Emmett (1878–82). Hawke remained in charge for 28 seasons until 1910, during which time the team won eight County Championships.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: In an obituary tribute, the editor of "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack" said that Lord Hawke's "strength of character was tested" when, as a young man on leaving Cambridge University, he undertook the responsibility of captaining the Yorkshire side, composed at that time of "elements that were not entirely harmonious". Owing to Hawke's "tact, judgment and integrity", he moulded the Eleven into "the best and probably the most united county cricket team in England".


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire to 1883 was widely seen as an idiosyncratic team and, though Hawke's primary task as captain was to lead the team to fulfilment of its potential, his biggest challenge was to unite the club's geographical and social factions. At the end of the 1882 season, in addition to appointing Hawke as captain, the committee agreed to reorganise itself for the first time since the club's foundation and began a process which eventually made the club representative of the whole county and not just Sheffield.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Hawke succeeded Emmett in 1883 and remained as official captain for 27 years, but at first he was careful to take his time and did not make too many changes. Yorkshire improved in 1883 and finished second behind Nottinghamshire in the unofficial County Championship. However, the remainder of the 1880s was disappointing for the team and its supporters. Kilburn said that Yorkshire "continued to be an unreliable side, mingling brilliant achievement with miserable performance". The basic problem was that the older players were past their peak while younger replacements did not make the progress expected. A poor season on the field in 1889 was reflected by reduced income and changes were made with several good new players being introduced. These included Jack Brown, David Hunter and Stanley Jackson, while Bobby Peel was becoming increasingly effective as a bowling all-rounder. They were followed by John Tunnicliffe, David Denton, Ted Wainwright and George Hirst. Hawke worked on fielding practice and the players became specialised and efficient as fielders.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: In 1893, the club's initial reorganisation was completed and was finalised after Ellison died in 1898 and Hawke assumed the club presidency as well as captaincy. When Wostinholm died in 1902 after being club secretary for 38 years, the county offices were moved from Sheffield to the more central location of Leeds.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: It was in 1893 that the team finally came good and Yorkshire won their first official County Championship. Hodgson wrote that it was "perhaps ... the first confirmation of Hawke's striving for teamwork and discipline". Yorkshire achieved second and third places in 1894 and 1895. The team continued to develop as Brown and Tunnicliffe established an effective opening partnership backed up by Denton and Jackson while Peel, Wainwright and Hirst carried the bowling attack.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire historian R.S. Holmes described Yorkshire as "prodigious" in 1896, when they won their second title with some outstanding batting performances including a championship record total of 887 against Warwickshire. Hawke began the practice of paying the professionals over the winter, initially £2 per week; the scheme was later modified to include bonuses. Peel was sacked in 1897 after appearing drunk on the field and was replaced in 1898 by Wilfred Rhodes, who took 141 wickets in his debut season. In the same season, Brown and Tunnicliffe established a record partnership for the first wicket when they scored 554 against Derbyshire at Chesterfield. Yorkshire won their third Championship in 1898 and narrowly failed in 1899 when only a defeat late in the season by Kent prevented the retention of the title.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Between 1900 and 1902, Yorkshire lost only twice in the County Championship, both times to Somerset, and won the County Championship in all three seasons largely thanks to their two outstanding all-rounders Hirst and Rhodes. When Joseph Wolstinholm retired as club secretary after the 1902 season, he was succeeded by Frederick Toone who held the post until his death in June 1930 and formed a successful liaison with Hawke. Toone and Hawke worked together to improve the terms and conditions of professional players' contracts. To 1914, they were paid £5 for a home match and £6 for an away match with a £1 win bonus. Players who had received their county cap were obliged to join the Cricketers' Friendly Society and were paid a winter wage of £2 a week.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire remained a strong championship contender through the 1903 to 1914 seasons and won a further three titles in this period, also finishing as runners-up three times. They won their seventh title in 1905 after being third and second in 1903 and 1904 respectively. In 1906, George Hirst achieved a unique "double-double" by scoring 2,385 runs and taking 208 wickets. The 1906 championship was decided on the last day of the season. Yorkshire lost to Gloucestershire by a single run and were overtaken by Kent, who won their last match against Hampshire by an innings. Having finished third in 1907, Yorkshire went through the 1908 season unbeaten and bowled Northamptonshire out for 27 and 15, the aggregate score of 42 being the lowest in English first-class cricket. Yorkshire finished third in 1909 but then dropped to eighth and seventh in the next two seasons before a recovery in 1912 brought their last title before the First World War. While Hirst, Rhodes and Denton continued to excel, Yorkshire gained much in the last four years before the war from two new all-rounders, Major Booth and Alonzo Drake, both of whom were an outstanding success. Another newcomer was Arthur Dolphin, who replaced the retired David Hunter as first-choice wicketkeeper. In 1913 and the unfinished 1914 season, Yorkshire finished second and fourth. Lord Hawke played only a few matches in 1909 and formally resigned as captain in 1910. He was succeeded by Everard Radcliffe, who held the post until the end of the 1911 season; and then by Sir Archibald White, who led the team until the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire won the first post-war Championship in 1919, a year which saw the debuts of Herbert Sutcliffe and Emmott Robinson, and remained a dominant force in the County Championship until the Second World War. They won every year from 1922 to 1925 and seven more times in the 1930s. The team won 25 games in 1923, for instance, with Rhodes and Roy Kilner doing the double in these matches alone, while four other batsmen scored 1,000 runs and three other bowlers, including George Macaulay, took 100 wickets.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire's quintessential rivalry is with Lancashire via the Roses Match. The importance of this match reached a peak during the inter-war period when, for many years, Yorkshire and Lancashire were the dominant teams in English cricket. The writings of Neville Cardus at this time were instrumental in emphasising the sense of rivalry between the two teams.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Wilfred Rhodes retired in 1930, taking 73 wickets and scoring 478 runs in his final season at the age of 53. J. M. Kilburn wrote in the "Yorkshire Post": "He had bowled at W.G. Grace, and he bowled at Don Bradman. At 20, at 30, at 40 and at 50 he had shown himself master of his world, and his kingdom was never usurped." Rhodes was replaced by Hedley Verity, another skilful slow left armer. In 1932 Verity performed the greatest bowling feat in first-class cricket - ten wickets for ten runs against Nottinghamshire at Headingley. Percy Holmes and Sutcliffe had a record opening stand of 555 against Essex at Leyton in 1932. Len Hutton began his career in the 1930s.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Large crowds flocked to the cricket after the Second World War with 47,000 people attending the 3 days of the Roses Match at Bramall Lane in 1946. Yorkshire won the first post-war Championship. New players after the war included spinner Johnny Wardle, all-rounder Brian Close and fast bowler Fred Trueman. Another newcomer Bob Appleyard became the first bowler to take 200 wickets in his first full season in 1951. The 1950s were dominated by Surrey, who won seven successive championships. Yorkshire had internal problems which were resolved before the 1959 season in which Yorkshire recovered the title under Ronnie Burnet.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: The 1960s saw a new Yorkshire team emerge that dominated English cricket. Brian Close was made captain in 1963 and won the Championship in his first season. The team included Fred Trueman, all-rounder Ray Illingworth, wicket-keeper Jimmy Binks and Test batsmen Geoffrey Boycott, Doug Padgett, Phil Sharpe and John Hampshire. The team began to break up after winning a third successive title in 1968 and Close was controversially sacked in 1970.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: There followed a long-running current of unrest in the club. There was sadness too in 1973 when Bramall Lane, the club's first ever home, was finally closed to cricket after over 400 first-class matches and was converted into a specialist football stadium.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Geoff Boycott captained Yorkshire for most of the 1970s, but competitive success eluded the team even when Boycott left Test cricket for three years to concentrate on the county game. He was sacked as captain amid much internal furore after the 1978 season. Ray Illingworth returned from Leicestershire as team manager and, in 1982 at the age of 50, took over the captaincy. Yorkshire finished bottom of the 17-strong County Championship for the first time in 1983 but won the John Player (later National) League for the first time. There was further controversy when Boycott was not offered a new contract. The outcome of this was that the general committee resigned and Boycott, having already been elected to the new committee, was reinstalled as a player. Meanwhile, Brian Close became chairman of the cricket committee. Success continued to elude Yorkshire although Phil Carrick led the team to a Benson and Hedges Cup triumph in 1987.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire put themselves at a self-evident disadvantage from 1968 until 1992 by insisting that all its players must have been born within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire, while all the other county teams strengthened themselves by signing overseas Test players. In 1992, the birth qualification rule was first modified to include those who had been educated within the county, a dispensation that allowed Michael Vaughan to play; and was then was eventually abandoned altogether. Yorkshire's first ever overseas player that season was 19-year-old Sachin Tendulkar.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Yorkshire finally won the County Championship again in 2001 when the captain was David Byas. Yorkshire have had mixed success in the first decade of the 21st century but finished a close third in the 2010 championship under Andrew Gale.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: There had for many years been a controversial issue about the apparent inability of players from Yorkshire's large ethnic minority population to make their way at the club. Tendulkar was the first Asian player to represent Yorkshire, but he was an overseas player. It was not until 2003 that Dewsbury's Ismail Dawood became the first British-born Asian to play for Yorkshire. He was followed by Ajmal Shahzad and Adil Rashid who have both represented England. In 2007, Azeem Rafiq as a member of Yorkshire's academy team became the first player of an Asian background to captain England at any level when he was appointed U15s captain. In the summer of 2012, Rafiq stepped in for the injured Andrew Gale to captain the team in 6 T20 matches, becoming the first player of Asia origin to lead the county, as well as the youngest captain in the club's history.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: The club were relegated at the end of a disappointing 2011 season, leading to major restructuring in the coaching staff, with former Yorkshire and Australia player Jason Gillespie brought in as coach.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: After regaining promotion swiftly, Gillespie set about revamping the side, enticing Ryan Sidebottom to return to his home county, as well as signing Jack Brooks and Liam Plunkett, allowing Yorkshire to build a fearsome pace attack. With the excellent batting of Gary Ballance, Alex Lees and Adam Lyth, coupled with the signing of New Zealand's Kane Williamson as overseas player, Yorkshire took Durham to the last game of the season in chasing the title in 2013, eventually finishing runners up.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: In 2014, in a bid to regain a domestic trophy, and as a statement of intent, Yorkshire announced the signing of Australian opening batsman Aaron Finch to join the side for the domestic NatWest T20 Blast competition, and fill in for Kane Williamson during the county matches where he was away with New Zealand. Finch, who hit a world record 156 off 63 balls in an international T20 for Australia, is widely regarded as one of the best and most explosive T20 batsmen around. Although Yorkshire were unable to progress past the Group stages of the T20 Blast, they sealed their 32nd County Championship title with a game to spare with victory over Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on 12 September 2014. Yorkshire followed up a successful 2014 with an even better 2015 winning their 33rd County Championship title with record wins and points total.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: In July 2018, they were one of the six teams invited to play in the first edition of the Abu Dhabi T20 Trophy, where Yorkshire finished second in their group.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: In 2020 they were accused of institutional racism by former player Azeem Rafiq. In 2021, the ECB suspended Yorkshire from holding test matches because their handling of the issue was causing reputational damage to the game, while former Yorkshire captain Gary Ballance, who admitted using racist language, was indefinitely suspended from national selection. The ECB wrote in a statement that there were problems with the governance and management of the club.


title: Yorkshire County Cricket Club

text: Lord Hawke, in the early days of his captaincy, designed the white rose badge. Copying the idea from Lancashire, who already had adopted the red rose as a symbol, Hawke designed a rose which, unlike Lancashire's, was not a real flower. He created a rose with eleven petals, to represent the eleven players of the team, based on the hedge rose. Only players who had received their county cap were allowed to wear the badge. It was not until the 1980s it was allowed by the committee to be placed on merchandise as a marketing device. Yorkshire's club colours are dark blue, light blue and gold; these are knitted in bands forming the v-neck of each player's sweater.