Credit for this reunion goes to Marla Faver, Baldwin County Extension agent, who worked closely with Dr. Fudd Graham, coordinator of Alabama Fire Ant Management Program to introduce the flies.

(Above: Extension Agent Marla Faver, second from right, monitors the collection of phorid flies that were introduced to fire-ant mounds in Baldwin County in May.  Baldwin County is the fifth county in which the flies have been introduced as part of an Extension-sponsored effort to control fire-ant populations in the Southeast.)

The tiny phorid fly, no bigger than the head of a straight pin, preys on the ants in the goriest manner imaginable. After a fly lays her egg in a fire ant, the emerging larvae makes its way into the ant’s head, eating out the inside of it. Eventually, the head rolls off and out emerges a new fly.

Then the macabre cycle of egg laying and decapitation begins again.

Ants that are not killed are so terrified by the flies that they cower for safety in their mounds, which reduces their ability to forage for food. Ant populations decline and mounds begin dying out.

Phorid flies were first introduced to Alabama in 1998 as part of a regional project aimed at controlling fire-ant populations throughout the South. The project is the brainchild of Dr. Sanford Porter, a Florida-based USDA researcher who spent years studying the phorid fly in South America before obtaining permission to introduce them into the United States.

The flies already have been successfully introduced in Macon, Lowndes, Talladega and Houston counties.

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System is one of the sponsors of the Fire Ant Management Program, which is coordinating the introduction of phorid flies throughout Alabama. Extension agents have played a pivotal role from the very beginning by helping introduce the flies into their counties.

The Baldwin County release, which occurred on May 2 in Elsanor, turned out to be a huge media event covered by every newspaper and television station in the region.

The Baldwin County project marks the first time Master Gardener volunteers have helped with the introduction of the flies. Master Gardeners are local volunteers who train with Extension agents, such as Faver, to carry out local horticultural projects and related efforts.

"They’re the ones who deserve credit for going out in the heat of the day and releasing the flies – a seven-day-a-week chore for the initial two weeks of the project," Faver says.

"This represents an entirely new field for Master Gardeners," she says. "They’re really excited about the project and satisfied that they are involved in a something of such immense economic importance to the Gulf Coast region."

Faver hopes the involvement of Master Gardeners will serve as a model for other Phorid fly projects in other parts of the state.

Faver says she also received "tremendous" support from the Gulf Coast farming community.

While conceding the flies will never eradicate fire ants completely, Faver and Graham hope they will help reduce fire-ant populations to manageable levels.

When fire ants were first introduced more than 70 years ago in Mobile Bay, there were no natural predators to stop them. Even worse, pesticides proved only marginally effective. Treated areas are rid of the ants for only a few months before aspiring fire-ant queens, known as reproductives, fly in, burrow into the soil and begin establishing new mounds.

Currently, there are between 60 and 80 fire-ant mounds per acre in Alabama, Faver says. By reducing the number of these mounds, she believes the Phorid flies could help reduce the mounds to numbers comparable to South America, which average about 10 mounds per acre.

"The project may take years to have an impact on fire-ant populations, but we think it may eventually mean steep reductions in pesticide use," Faver says. "It will also bring improvements in the quality of life because people can go out and enjoy nature without having to worry so much about fire ants."