History of the Invasive and Pest Ant Conference

This conference is attended by researchers, teachers, extension agents and specialists, industry personnel, and regulatory personnel. The purpose of the conference is to exchange information on the biology and management of imported fire ants, other invasive, and pest ant species. The first Imported Fire Ant Conference was held in 1963 (Lofgren 1987). Proceedings of the conference are available for most of the conferences held since 1984. The conference venue traditionally rotated among states in the imported fire ant infested area. In 2016 the Conference began to be held jointly in alternate years with the National Conference on Urban Entomology. In May 2017 the name of the conference was changed to the Invasive and Pest Ant Conference.

Table 1. Dates and Locations of the Invasive and Pest Ant (formerly the Imported Fire Ant) Conferences.

Year	Dates	Location
1963	Oct	Gulfport, MS
1965	Feb	Gulfport, MS
1965	Nov	Starkville, MS
1967	March	Biloxi, MS
1968	March	Biloxi, MS
1969	March	New Orleans, LA
1970	April	Gainesville, FL
1971	March	Gulfport, MS
1972	March	Athens, GA
1973	March	New Orleans, LA
1974	March	Brownsville, TX
1975	March	Gainesville, FL
1976	March	Gulfport, MS
1977	March	College Station, TX
1978	April	Raleigh, NC
1979	May	Baton Rouge, LA
1980	March	Gainesville, FL
1981	March	Biloxi, MS
1982	March	Austin, TX
1983	March	Starkville, MS
1984	March 27-28	Gainesville, FL
1985		Puerto Rico
1986	April 3-4	Austin, TX
1987	April 15-16	Baton Rouge, LA
1988	May 4-5	Athens, GA
1989	April 18-19	Biloxi, MS
1990	April 2-3	College Station, TX
1991	March 19-20	Atlanta, GA
1992	April 20-24	San Juan, PR
1993	June 15-18	Charleston, SC
1994	May 9-11	Mobile, AL
1995	May 2-4	San Antonio, TX
1996	April 16-18	New Orleans, LA
1997	April 14-16	Gainesville, FL
1998	April 6-8	Hot Springs, AR
1999	March 3-5	Charleston, SC
2000	April 5-7	Chattanooga, TN
2001	Feb. 28-March 2	San Antonio, TX
2002	March 24-26	Athens, GA
2003	March 30-April 1	Palm Springs, CA
2004	March 21-23	Baton Rouge, LA
2005	March 22-24	Gulfport, MS
2006	March 28-30	Mobile, AL
2007	April 23-25	Gainesville, FL
2008	March 24-26	Charleston, SC
2009	April 6-9	Oklahoma City, OK
2010	April 19-22	Little Rock, AR
2011	April 4-7	Galveston, TX
2012	April 16-18	Nashville, TN
2013	April 8-11	Virginia Beach, VA
2014	May 5-8	Palm Springs, CA
2015	April 6-8	New Orleans, LA
2016	May 22-25	Albuquerque, NM (with NCUE)
2017	May 16-18	Mobile, AL
2018	May 20-23	Cary, NC (with NCUE)

References Cited:

Lofgren, C. S. 1987. A quarter century of imported fire ant research meetings, pp. 1-6 in M. E. Mispagel (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1987 Annual Imported Fire Ant Conference, Baton Rouge, LA.