Solenopsis

A genus of ants known as fire ants, which can inflict painful burning stings that cause local and occasionally systemic reactions.

- S. invicta the red imported fire ant, a species imported from South America which has spread extensively within the southeastern United States where it has become a major pest of humans and animals; it readily stings humans, producing local swelling and pruritus with development of a pustule at the site of the sting and, in rare cases, it can cause anaphylactic shock with death from respiratory or cardiac arrest. SEE ALSO: S. richteri. SYN: red imported fire ant.

- S. richteri the black imported fire ant, a species imported from South America but less extensively established in the United States than S. invicta. SEE ALSO: S. invicta. SYN: black imported fire ant.

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So·le·nop·sis .sō-lə-'näp-səs n a genus of small stinging ants including several abundant tropical and subtropical forms (as the imported fire ants)

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So·le·nop·sis (so″lə-nopґsis) the fire ants, a genus of stinging ants of the family Formicidae; they inflict painful, burning stings that cause local or systemic reactions. S. geminaґta is indigenous to the United States. S. saevisґsima richґteri is an aggressive species native to South America that has now been seen in North America.