<P> Fire ants nest in the soil, often near moist areas, such as river banks, pond shores, watered lawns, and highway shoulders . Usually, the nest will not be visible, as it will be built under objects such as timber, logs, rocks, or bricks . If there is no cover for nesting, dome - shaped mounds will be constructed, but these are usually only found in open spaces, such as fields, parks and lawns . These mounds can reach heights of 40 centimetres (16 in), but can be even higher on heavier soils, standing at 1.0 metre (3 ft 3 in) in height and 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) in diameter . Colonies are founded by small groups of queens or single queens . Even if only one queen survives, within a month or so, the colony can expand to thousands of individuals . Some colonies may be polygynous (having multiple queens per nest). </P> <P> Fire ants are resilient and can survive floods . During Hurricane Harvey in Texas in 2017, clumps of fire ants, known as rafts, were seen clumped together on the surface of the water . Each clump had as many as 100,000 individual ants, who formed the temporary structure until finding a new permanent home . </P> <P> Fire ant queens, the reproductive females in their colony, also are generally the largest . Their primary function is reproduction; fire ant queens may live up to 7 years and can produce up to 1,600 eggs per day, and colonies will have as many as 250,000 workers . The estimated potential life span is around 5.83 to 6.77 years . Young, virgin fire ant queens have wings (as do male fire ants), but they rip them off after mating . </P> <P> Males mate with the queen . They die soon after mating . </P>

What is the size of a fire ant