Publius,

once we get out of orbital mechanics and high physics and into critters I begin to become a more useful resource here.

I surely wish you could float this past your Dept. Of Agriculture, though seriously doubtful. My friend the Argentine ant could probably deal with your problem quite well.

No obnoxious bites or stings, utterly intolerant of other ant species and is a very effective killer of larger ants. When Boo was three she would lay down on emerging nests and just get covered black with them, with no ill effects other than freaking her father out. Probably can't do that with fire ants, from what I'm told.

Smaller than most ants and several times faster when jazzed up for combat, Argentines dismember larger ants in seconds. I've seen this, eyes on. They don't waste time time. They seem to know where all the snaps and zippers are in their foes.

I don't believe the two species overlap. As a matter of fact, ecologists cry about the Argentine ant because they exterpate local ant species.

With human intervetion they could be even more effective. I read a case where a set up like a beekeeper's hive, with a screened entrance to keep the fire ants from counter-raiding, was placed in a former feed lot that was one giant fire ant colony.

Before the Argentine ant nest was exhausted the three closest mounds were "notably depleted".

So yeah, its a foriegn species, but that ship has already sailed in your case. Why not trade up for a species that doesn't eat people alive??

__________________
In your rush to call everyone "entrenched" or closed-minded or "limited" you fail to note that the "limit" here has a very natural boundary: that point at which the evidence stops. - JayUtah

Science fiction was never meant to be an educational tool. - Editor Amazing Tales