Argentine ant	Status LU: absent.
	Argentinesch Seechomes	Status Eur.: established.
	Fourmi d’Argentine	RA: ISEIA: C0. Harmonia+: n/a.
	Argentinische Ameise	Wikipedia: | Wikispecies: | CABI
	Argentijnse plaagmier	Back to the list of invertebrates

Report the species

→ Report Linepithema humile to the National Museum of Natural History.

Brief description

Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868) is one of the most invasive and problematic ant species in the world according to the Invasive Species Specialist Group (www.issg.org/database). Native to South America, it has spread worldwide in areas with Mediterranean-type climates usually associated with disturbed habitats as a result of human commercial activities. Its capacity to tolerate a wide range of abiotic conditions, its generalist dietary requirements and its unicolonial organization, which lead to the formation of large supercolonies, allow the species to spread easily and occupy a wide range of areas. In these areas, L. humile has impacted native ant faunas leading to changes in arthropod communities, ant-vertebrate interactions and ant-plant relationships. Its presence has also had economic effects, such as damage to infrastructure, and negative effects on crops and plantations due to its mutualistic interactions with hemipterans, which can affect the growth and production of the host plant (CABI 2019).

Status and distribution in Luxembourg

The species hasn’t been observed in Luxembourg so far (MNHNL, iNaturalist & GBIF, 2020).

Risk assessment

ISEIA protocol

C0 (3+1+2+2) (Ries et al. 2017: 68).

Harmonia+ protocol

Not assessed yet.

Worldwide distribution

Bibliography

• CABI, 2019. Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868). In: Invasive Species Compendium. Wallingford, UK: CAB International. URL: www.cabi.org/isc [accessed 2020-04-10]
• MNHNL, iNaturalist & GBIF, 2020. Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868) in MNHNL-mdata, online portal combining species observation from Recorder-Lux, iNaturalist and GBIF. National Museum of Natural History, Luxembourg. URL: https://mdata.mnhn.lu [accessed 2020-04-10]
• Ries, C., A. Arendt, C. Braunert, S. Christian, A. Dohet, A. Frantz, G. Geimer, M. Hellers, J. A. Massard, X. Mestdagh, R. Proess, N. Schneider & M. Pfeiffenschneider, 2017. Environmental impact assessment and black, watch and alert list classification after the ISEIA Protocol of invertebrates in Luxembourg. Bull. Soc. Nat. luxemb. 119: 63-70. [PDF 360 KB]