Scientific Name:  genus:  Solenopsis
Order:  Hymenoptera
Family:  Formicidae
Diet:  Eats plants, insects, seeds, sugars and prefer proteins.  Their eating habits have damaged various types of crops.  
Vegetation Association:  Mounds can be found in moist areas under rocks, pavement, or wood.
Predators:  Lizards and birds. 
Life Stages:  They hatch from eggs and go through many larval stages before becoming adults.
Notes:  They are shiny brick red to black and have an powerful sting.  Multiple new queens will get together to form colonies underground.  By working together they can get underground faster and escape the heat as well as predators.  The queens of these colonies are one of the longest living insects known to exist.
Photo:  To be added.

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