Foraging behavior and recruitment of red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta Buren were found to be dependent on habitat and food source. Detailed information about the

sources of food was transferred by the first foragers to the other workers who subsequently came and collaborated in foraging. This phenomenon is

known as "recruitment". The communication was complicated among the workers. S. invicta were observed in the field in typical habitats of South China, to

determine how type of food and habitat affected foraging and recruitment. The foraging behaviour consisted of three steps: searching,

recruitment and transportation. Searching time was different for different foods; the searching time for honey was longer than for any other food tested,

The searching time was also affected by habitat, with the searching time of fire ants in a litchi orchard significantly longer than for other habitats (p<0.01).

However, the mass of the food had no obvious effect on the searching time. The recruitment of fire ant workers during foraging was regular, and there was

a strong relationship between the number of recruited workers and transportation time, described by the formula Na=c₁e^-c2T-c3e-^c4T. When the food was too heavy to transport immediately into nest, the number of recruited workers was a maximum 30 min after

the food was initially found. For smaller food sources maximum workers were able to be recruited sooner and the food was more rapidly

transported back to the nest. For different foods, the dynamics of recruitment were similar although the number of recruits was different. The mass

of the food and the habitats also affected deeply on the time spent of transportation.