BEIJING: Customs authorities in Chengdu said here the other day that customs officers found more than 100 live ants in a package that came from Germany. This is the second time in less than a year that live ants were sent to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province in southwestern China.
Officials said that each black ant were 1.5 to two centimeters long. The ants were contained in test tubes with some water. The species of the ants are still unknown.
Three ant queens measuring three centimers long were also found. Small ants have hatched from the ant queens’ eggs.
On October 30, Chengdu customs also seized a parcel filled with 400 live black ants around 1.5 to 2 centimeter long and were also sealed in a test tube. Authorities were able to trace the package and found out that another similar delivery will arrive on November 1. Another 400 black ants were confiscated in the second package. Both were addressed to the same recipient, who did not have a live animal quarantine license.
The packages came from Hamburg, Germany, and was shipped to Dubai and South Korea before arriving in China.
The ants were identified as Paraponera clavata ants, commonly known as bullet ants due to their powerful venom. They also reproduce rapidly, with the queen laying up to 2,000 eggs each day.
It is unclear if the recipient of the latest confiscated ants is also the recipient of the two previous packages.
The first quarter of 2016 saw 707 batches of non-native hazardous plants and animals trying to enter Henan province, its quarantine bureau said.
“At least 400 alien species of animals, plants and microorganisms have invaded China. Of the globe’s 100 most dangerous alien species, more than 50 have invaded China,” said Chen Hai, head of the Sichuan quarantine bureau.
Ants such as the bullet ants are not native to China and can hurt the environment as it has no natural predator in the country.
