Fire ant

Fire ants are several species of ants in the genus Solenopsis, which includes over 200 species. Solenopsis are stinging ants, and most of their common names reflect this, for example, ginger ants and tropical fire ants. Many of the names shared by this genus are often used interchangeably to refer to other species of ant, such as the term red ant, mostly because of their similar coloration despite not being in the genus Solenopsis. Both Myrmica rubra and Pogonomyrmex barbatus are common examples of non-Solenopsis ants being termed red ants.^[2]

None of these names apply to all species of Solenopsis nor only to Solenopsis species; for example the colloquial names for several species of weaver ants in the genus Oecophylla in Southeast Asia include "fire ants" because of their similar coloration and painful bites; the two genera, however, are not closely related. Wasmannia auropunctata is another unrelated ant commonly called the "little fire ant" due to its potent sting.^[3]