AUBURN, May 7---Fierce enemies often come in small packages.

That is certainly the case with the phorid fly, a pinhead-sized insect that preys on imported fire ants in the regions of South America where both species originate.

Armed with funds from the Alabama Legislature and support from the state’s land-grant universities, experts and volunteers with the Alabama Fire Ant Management Program are working to help this fierce enemy of fire ants gain a toehold in the state.

The first release of the fly in Alabama occurred in Talladega in 1998.

Unfortunately, it failed.

"For some reason, the flies didn’t take, though we had no idea why," says Fudd Graham, who coordinates the Fire Ant Management Program.

So they decided to move farther south, introducing another population to Macon County in the spring of 1999.

"By August, we had the flies well established at the release site," Graham recalls with a smile. "It was a dry year, but we still felt good about the flies, especially after the warm winter."

However, the worst summer drought in more than half a century occurred the next year. Returning to Macon County spring of 2000, Graham and other volunteers found no trace of the insects. They returned again and again, but still no trace.

"We feared all the digging we had done in the fire ant mounds looking for signs of the phorid flies had reduced ant populations and, along with this, the numbers of flies," he says.

So they waited until August during a "cool spell," when the temperature dropped below 90 degrees following rain.

Much to their delight, Graham and his volunteers discovered the 200-acre Macon County farm where the insects had been released were literally teeming with flies. Further investigation in early October revealed traces of the flies five miles to the east – strong evidence the insects had spread throughout a 5-mile radius.

Since then, Graham has worked with local county agent volunteers to release the flies in Talladega and, most recently, in Lowndes County. Another release is planned for Houston County this fall.

The phorid flies are often called decapitating flies – and for good reason.

After a fly lays her egg in a fire ant, the emerging maggot makes its way to the ant’s head. After eating out the inside of the ant’s head, the head topples off and a new fly emerges.

As the new generation emerges, the ghastly cycle of egg laying and decapitation begins again.

Actually this gruesome scenario is not what Graham and the others find most exciting about the flies. What intrigues them the most is the effect these flies have in terrorizing the ants, resulting in a reduction of their ability to forage for food.

That’s because the more fire ants there are cowering for safety, the fewer there are outside foraging for food. And with less and less food being brought back to the mound, ant numbers decline and so do unsightly fire-ant mounds.

Indeed, these flies could prove to be the best defense yet against imported fire ants, which escaped off a freighter in Mobile in the 1930s and steadily made their way throughout the South and the Southwest.

When these ants first became established more than 60 years ago, there were no natural predators to stop them. Even worse, pesticides have proven only marginally effective against the insects. 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 large, unsightly mounds all over again.

That’s why Graham and other experts believe the phorid flies hold such great promise for controlling the ants.

"Here in Alabama, we have between 60 and 80 fire-ant mounds an acre," Graham says. "However, in South America, where phorid flies are prevalent, there are only about 10 mounds an acre."

"If these flies help reduce populations, we may finally end up with a manageable population."

Working with county Extension agents and volunteers, Graham is hoping to establish beachheads for the phorid flies in key locations of the state. If they’re successful, they hope to have a statewide phorid fly population established within a decade.