[Relationships between mound size and captured ergate amount of Solenopsis invicta]

By the method of bait trapping, this paper studied the relationships between mound size (mound volume and mound surface base area) and captured ergate amount of Solenopsis invicta in wasteland and greenbelt. In wasteland, with the increase of mound size, the amount of captured S. invicta ergates increased rapidly at first, slowed down then, and kept stable at last. When the mound volume and surface base area were 11634 cm3 and 1308 cm2 respectively, the captured ergate amount reached the maximum, being 291 individuals per trap. Similar patterns were observed in greenbelt. The increase of captured S. invicta ergate amount slowed down rapidly when the mound volume was larger than 18089 cm3, and reached the maximum (232 individual per trap) when the mound volume was 25974 cm3. The Weibull equation could better describe the relationships between the mound volume and mound surface base area and the captured ergate amount of S. invicta.