Ants Attend Wimbledon

Flying Ants Invade Wimbledon
Photo: Andrew Couldridge

In the first week of July, the sports world spotlight is on the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament. This year (2017) the annual swarms of flying ants coincided with the tennis tournament. The ants invaded the courts flying into the faces of the players and causing distractions. Johanna Konta swallowed some that flew into her mouth as she played. There was no thought of halting the matches until the swarms subsided. Unlike rains which can cause a delay, the flying ant are considered part of the environment and players must play on. 2017 will be remembered as the year the flying ants shared the Wimbledon spotlight.

About jjneal

Jonathan Neal is a retired Associate Professor of Entomology at Purdue University and author of the textbook, Living With Insects (2010). This blog is a forum to communicate about the intersection of insects with people and policy. This is a personal blog. The opinions and materials posted here are those of the author and are in no way connected with those of my employer.

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