Mr Cajun Gator

I know this is not an airboat, but I came across this thing while trying to clear out my pond so that I could run my airboat. And I trust my buds in here. May be some one in here has come across one of these insects.
They look like a ant, bigger than the fire ant and smaller than the big black tree ant. They are lite pink in color, some a darker pink. Pink may be a girls color, but let me tell ya, these little $#%%%^$# insects bite like a ^%&*$&*(*^^)^%$&*)$. The pain sent a chill down to my toes. I am finding them inside of the little trees that I'm pulling up. Some are above the water and some are under the water. 2 of them got me today, one on the side of the neck and the other on the tip of my finger, and my fingers are tuff, hard working hands, and it still got through. Any ideas of what it is or where I can go to find info on them? If I come across another, I'll try to get a pic.

pro27

Where is your closest University?

I would find a way to capture one, or several of these little buggers and check with the Science/Biology department of a University.

You may have stumbled onto something that someone should be aware of.[X(]

asmithnc

http://www.orkin.com/learningcenter/oorkinzoo.asp try this out.. I hope this is what you are looking for.

TERBObob

My Feedback: (21)

Ya know . This might sound sarcastic , but its not meant to be .
Ya know , I am from Florida , ( only an Iowa transplant for the last 15 years or so ) . and there are some REALLY screwy bugs down in the deep south . I am pretty sure that what you ran across is a hybred of a piss ant ( fire ant ) and common flying ant ( very common in Florida ). Certain people I noticed , are more sensitive to their bites than others are . Myself , when I got bit , it hurt , but not all that bad . No , on the other hand , one of my sons got bit by them , and we nearly had a cow . He got bit on his thumb on the meaty part , and his whole hand swelled within seconds . We hurried and ran hot water over it and tried extracting whatever venom was injected . We took him to the hospital , and to shorten the story ... they simply gave us some antibiotic. End of story . The swelling went down after about a day . But , this was just to try and show differences in reactions in folks .
Now , you could do as PRO said , but , what I did when I got bit my first time by a scorpion was , I contacted my local DNR office and brought the scorpion down to them to identify ( which they did ).
( DNR - state wildlife control . Here called DNR - Department of Natural Resources . Forget what its called in Florida . )
They , also , are supposed to know all the bugs as well as animals .

LtDoc

...Hmm. Sounds like some variant of a 'fire ant'. Your county/parish 'Ag. Agent' (if you have such a thing) may be able to tell you what they are, or any of the other suggestions given. Best advice is to leave them alone (LOL)!
Something that works here is to distribute 'horse apples' (the big green thingys, "fruit" from a "bo-dark" tree, I can't spell the name, sorry), around where they nest. Won't kill them but does make them move to a different place. Intimate contact between ant and the head of a hammer works too...
- 'Doc

PS - 'T.Bob', it's called anaphylactic shock, depends on how 'allergic' a person is to the venum, and can be ~very~ 'bad'. Same as someone being allergic to bee stings, etc. Having a 'cow' doesn't begin to describe how it feels...