Fig. 1 in Long-term efficacy of two cricket and two liver diets for rearing laboratory fire ant colonies (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Solenopsis invicta)

Fig. 1. Results of a 1 yr diet study using sugar water and either raw beef liver, raw chicken liver, or crickets to rear colonies of the imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta. A) Mean brood production rating of test colonies with brood: 4 = excel- lent, substantially more brood than workers; 3 = good, brood about equal to workers; 2 = poor, brood substantially less than workers; 1 = bad, only a little brood visible; and 0 = no brood. Colonies were fractionally rated if they ap- peared intermediate. Early in the study, about the end of Mar, we switched from domestic crickets (black squares) to banded crickets (crossed squares) and then back to domestic crickets (black squares) for 6 ant colonies on 6 Jun and then the remaining 7 colonies on 1 Jul. Colonies were eliminated from rating means when the queen died or brood production ceased. B) Percentage of test colonies containing brood plotted against time in months for colonies receiving either beef liver (N =10), chicken liver (N = 10), or crickets (N = 13).