Journal 
The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, which is one of the quarantine pests in Korea, was discovered by forest insect pests team of Sangji University in Busan on 13th-August 2019 and Kwangyang (Jeonnam province) on 22th-December 2019. The ants were found on the surface of the container yard’s wall at Busan station and the cracks on the container yard wall, which was covered with ascon, in Kwangyang. After collection of ant specimens, they were identified as Linepithema humile by the corresponding author on the next day.
This ant is nondescript, soft-bodied, small (body length 2.2– 2.6 mm), blurry light to darkish brown in color, and has large compound eyes. The species is native to the Paraná River drainage basin in the South American continent, which stretches across southern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern Argentina (Wild, 2004). Linepithema humile grows in Mediterranean climates, and over the past century it has been spread widely by human-mediated transport to Chile, North America, Hawaii, New Zealand, Easter Island, Australia, Japan, Africa, and Europe (Wetterer et al., 2009). Invasive Argentine ants are important pests, causing serious harm to native natural ecosystems (Cole et al., 1992), including vertebrate (Suarez and Case, 2002), and plant communities (Christian, 2001). These ants are also major agricultural (Vega and Rust, 2001) and urban/residential (Klotz et al., 2008) pests. Insects account for 14 of the world’s 100 worst invasive alien species (Lowe et al., 2000). Among these invasive insects, there are five species of ants, most of which are pests that cause enormous damage. It is therefore necessary that the Korean Government pays more attention to, not only the red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta Buren) but also the other four species (Anoplolepis gracilipes (Smith), Linepithema humile (Mayr), Pheidole megacephala (Fabricius), and Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger)). Fig. 1-3
KSAE
