Table 2. Species as a function of geographical origin for ants in the POE database, ants established in the United States, and all insects established in the United States.

Geographical region	All POE	Established POE	Established ants U.S.	Established insects U.S.
Neotropics	128	10	33	170
Palearctic	24	4	4	941
Africa	15	2	6	62
Oriental/Australian	49	9	12	225

Compared with all known ant species established in the United States, all POE ants (POE specimens intercepted by United States Department of Agriculture officials at customs stations) and established POE ants do not differ with respect to their geographical origins [all POE ants versus all established ants in the United States: G = 1.254, P = 0.74, df = 3; established POE ants versus ants known to have established populations in the United States (data from ref. 15–18): G = 4.352, P = 0.36, df = 3]. However, compared with known insect species established in the United States (data from ref. 22), established POE ants come from different geographical regions (G = 86.441, P < 0.001, df = 3). Introduced insects in the United States originate mostly from the western Palearctic, whereas ants come mostly from the Neotropics.