The bullet ant is quite large, and its bite is similar in pain to a bullet wound. Arthropods sting much more painfully than any other insect. And at least a bite for human body not fatal, but it brings terrible torment throughout the day.

Appearance and habitat

All bullet ants have the same color - black-brown, and the members of the family do not differ much from each other:

• foragers are the smallest, their length reaches 2.5 centimeters;
• females grow up to 3 centimeters.

Photos of the bullet ant show that it is similar to other individuals, but has a more rounded abdomen.

The eggs of Paraponera Clavata (paraponera) resemble rice in shape and are pale yellow in color.

On a note!

Each individual has a long stinger and a large head with powerful mandibles. and the body are covered with light spines, similar to thin needles.

You can meet bullet ants in the territory from Nicaragua to Paraguay. In tropical forests they are found in the roots of trees and less often on the trunks themselves. On average, one hectare of forest is inhabited by four ant colonies.

Lifestyle

Puli ants prefer to live in tropical rainforests, where they can hunt other arthropods and collect sweet nectar from flowers. Insects do not tolerate proximity to their fellow insects, so they fight with them for food and territory.

They dig deep, up to 65 centimeters, with complex passages. But there is only one exit and entrance to the ant dwelling. The “door” is guarded by two guards. In case of danger, other ants crawl out of the nest and begin to survey the area.

Interesting!

Each house is equipped drainage system. This is a long channel that extends downwards from the nest.

In the family, roles are distributed depending on the size of the individual:

• the smallest workers care for the larvae;
• Large Puli males forage for food and guard the nest.

Colonies are few in number. Usually there are no more than a thousand ants in a family. The period falls on December-January. At this time, females and males fly out of the nest to mate.

The bullet protects the tree from attack where it lives. It prevents these ants from harming the plant.

Nutrition

The bullet ant is a predator. It feeds on other arthropods and small animals, killing them with a poisonous bite.

The search for food is carried out at night. The ants move 40 meters away from the anthill. They find their way home thanks to marks made using glands near their paws.

On a note!

They prefer to forage in trees, but can also search on the ground.

The food found can be a thousand times larger than the ant itself. The insects team up and cut the prey into small pieces to deliver it to the anthill.

The main diet of bullet ants includes:

• large arthropods;
• vertebrates small animals;
• sweet nectar and tree sap.

To extract tree sap, insects make notches on the bark with their sharp mandibles. They drink the liquid themselves and take it to the nest to feed their brothers, the larvae and the queen.

Interesting!

About 45% of the foragers bring food to the anthill. The rest return empty-handed. Ants loaded with food run faster than those who go “empty-handed.”

Bullets can also carry plant food into the anthill, which includes moss, petals, and small twigs.

Bite and poison

The bullet ant is a peaceful insect. He uses his sting for hunting, and tries to scare away the enemy. For this paraponera allocates bad smell and hisses terribly. The arthropod stings only if the enemy continues to attack.

On a note!

The Schmidt scale, which determines the amount of pain, gives the bite a status of 4+, for which representatives of this family are classified as. Other insect bites have a status of 1 to 4.

The sting of the arthropod is of impressive length - 3.5 mm, the capsule with poison is 1.9 mm. Poisonous substance contains poneratoxin, which causes discomfort in the bitten person or animal.

Puli causes burning pain and paralysis. The area where the sting entered may turn black.

The Satere-Mawe Indian tribes use bullet ants for a harsh ritual. Sleepy insects are woven into mittens that are put on the boy’s hands. Ten minutes later the instrument of torture is removed. Hands young man turn black and stop moving, and the deafening pain lasts for a day.

The bite only threatens the lives of allergy sufferers. It does not pose a mortal danger to other people.

The bites of most ants inhabiting the planet are not so terrible for humans. There are only a few exceptions, including the bullet ant (Paraponera Clavata), also known as the “24-hour ant” or killer ant. These popular names insects are quite justified because of their strength pain after a bite. The sensation of a Paraponera Clavata bite is compared to a gunshot wound, and the pain will last throughout the day, not decreasing for a minute and causing temporary paralysis of the bitten area and blackening of the skin.

They say that the pain after such an attack is tens of times greater than the pain after a bee or wasp sting. This is not surprising, since the sting of a bullet ant cannot be called small: its length is 3.5 mm. The poison released into the victim contains a powerful neurotoxin - poneratoxin, which, in fact, causes the described pain and reaction in the body of the bitten person. For healthy person the bite is not fatal, and after a day the torment gradually subsides, but allergy sufferers may not survive after this due to severe intoxication with the poison. It is not for nothing that the bite of this ant is regarded as the most dangerous and painful insect bite in the world.

Human being bitten by the most dangerous ant in the world

Not long ago on our website we posted a video of the American wildlife researcher Coyote Peterson. Let us recall that according to kale sting force schmidt tropical wasp sting has an assessment 4,0 . You can watch the moment of the bite at this link: .

So, Cayote Peterson experienced the bite of the most dangerous insect on this scale, namely the bullet ant, which has a rating of 4,0+ . The bite was much more painful than the sting of a tarantula wasp.

Translated and voiced by: vertdider.com

Indian rite of passage into manhood through stings by killer ants

And in Brazil, Indian tribes have a rite of passage for boys to become men. They must wear gloves 20 times, where aggressive bullet ants await them. They are bitten by 10 or more ants at a time. The pain is so bad that it feels like your hands are on fire. Then the gloves are removed and after some time the procedure is repeated. And only after 20 such rituals does a real man emerge. 🙂

About the bullet ant

Description and habitat

The bullet ant is one of the largest ants that inhabit the earth. Working individuals reach 2-2.5 cm in length, females are slightly larger (3 cm). The uterus is only slightly larger than the workers. Although in the family of bullet ants there is a division into castes, like their other relatives, there is almost no external difference between them: bullet ants of any status have a black-brown color, a very powerful sting with a capsule of paralyzing poison inside, three pairs 3 -segmental legs, rather large head. The body is covered with needle-like spines (especially the legs).

The only thing in which the uterus is slightly different from the rest of its family is its voluminous abdomen, adapted to the constant gestation of eggs. The eggs in the clutch have round shape and a pale yellowish tint.

Paraponera Clavata can be found only in the territory from Nicaragua to Paraguay, with the center of its range in Ecuador ( South America).

Lifestyle, reproduction

The bullet ant leads a social lifestyle. They live in small colonies, the number of individuals in which rarely exceeds 1000.

Nests

She builds her nests at the base of tree trunks, less often - right on them. Sometimes insects dig houses 60 cm or more deep into the ground. Such a dwelling can be roughly compared to a vertical corridor with numerous galleries extending in different directions. But wherever the nest is built, there is always only 1 entrance and 1 exit. A guard post of 2 individuals is always on duty near the entrance. Sensing danger, they give a signal to the soldiers and then, together with them, examine the area around the nest within a radius of 30 cm to detect the source of the threat.

Relations between anthills located not far from each other cannot be called friendly. Bullet ants often quarrel with their neighbors and wage real fierce battles, each defending their own territory of residence and food production.

Nutrition

Paraponera Clavata search for food (forage) only in the dark. They do this more often on trees, in search of insects (including dead ones) or nutritious tree sap obtained from an incision made in the bark.

Scattering around in search of food, bullet ants leave marks on their way (they release pheromones), along which they return to the nest.

Particularly large prey ( large insects or small invertebrate animals) the ants kill on the spot, but delivering it to the nest is more complicated. Such trophies are too large for one ant to carry them to the nest, so in such cases they act collectively: they cut the carcass into pieces with their powerful jaws and take them home in small pieces. Adult ants feed this food to their offspring, which are able to eat on their own and do not require preliminary grinding of food.

Like most ant species, bullet ants have a sweet tooth. They happily feast on nectar or sweet plant substances and juices. They carry such a tasty treat to the nest, drop by drop, held between the jaws, and there they treat their relatives, the queen and the larvae.

Reproduction

The queen (queen, queen) is directly responsible for increasing the size of the family. Like other species of ants, it is constantly cared for; it knows no shortage of food. Good food is very important for the uterus, because she is forced to constantly bear eggs and thereby increase her genus.

Paraponera clavata are amazing ants, but the fact that they are not widespread everywhere cannot but rejoice, because you would not wish anyone to encounter this insect face to face at the moment of its warlike mood.

Bullet Ants are tropical poisonous looking.Consequences of a bite these ants significantly exceed the impact poison of wasps, bees, hornets. The tropics are famous for their abundance poisonous animals.

IN favorable climatic living conditions many types organisms that have similar morphology, the same way of life, similar behavior. Under such conditions, species with special adaptive reactions gain advantage.

Bullet Ants live in tropical forests of Central and South America. The attachment of this species to forest biotopes is manifested in the structure anthills at tree bases, on trunks, in large forks.

Attention. These ants have several names reflecting the characteristics of the species. This insect with huge flat jaws is called a killer. However, the strangest name is Ant-24. Ants are called bullets because of their stinging apparatus, killer ants because of their strong poison, and 24 because of the duration of the poison.

Killer ants They don’t try to bite everyone, paralyze, or kill everyone. They hunt on others arthropods forest inhabitants. Man and large animals pose a danger to ants, so these insects are forced defend.

Bullet ants have the following characteristics:

• body length reaches 2.5 cm;
• color black with a brownish tint;
• the head is large, cuboid with rounded corners;
• eyes round, protruding;
• the abdomen has two additional constrictions.

Due to the size, structure of the jaws and abdomen, ant-24 is difficult to confuse with other representatives of the genus Paraponera Smith.

Bullet Ant. Photo

Consequences of a bullet ant bite

Stinging apparatus located at the end of the abdomen. Length it is 3.5 mm. Poison reservoir(1.9 by 1 mm) located at a distance 3 mm from the tip. This structure of the apparatus led zoologists to an analogy with the movement of a bullet along the barrel of a firearm. This is how the ant received its main name.

I bullet ants not fatal for large animals. However, after being bitten, any creature loses interest in the anthill for 24 hours. During the day it will be busy with its pain. This is the purpose of the poison of ants that know how to defend themselves.

Human, bitten by an ant, for 24 hours feels severe pain . Bite site And adjacent tissues covers paralysis.

Among the Indians of South America, there is an initiation ritual using the poison of a bullet ant. Teenagers wear gloves with ant stings on their hands. Within 10 minutes of wearing gloves, the young men's hands are completely paralyzed. Paralysis lasts 24 hours, and the fingers regain mobility after 2-3 days.

Important. The area bitten by the ant hurts, loses mobility, and changes color to almost black. This is how blood stagnation with capillary hemorrhages manifests itself. The injured person is provided with symptomatic care. A cooling bandage is applied to the bite site. Painkillers help you endure the pain.

A person can meet dangerous ants in jungle, because they do not live in dwellings and settlements. When in the rainforest, be careful around tall spreading trees.

At bite try go to your home, clearing, road, take painkillers, drink more water, because it helps flush out poison from the body.

Lifestyle, role in the ecosystem

Trees in the rainforest are the environment for large quantity large and small inhabitants, therefore Bullet ants live in and around trees. The food source for bullet ants is fruits, arthropods, nectar.

Foragers have two route directions – tree and forest floor Around him. These directions make it possible to provide the anthill with the most varied food.

Bullet Ants lead night Lifestyle. They go hunting at sunset, but the main activity of ants occurs at night.

With this mode of operation, ants can collect plant food before dark. Then the hunt begins for daytime arthropods, which become helpless in the dark. In addition, at night, ants avoid encounters with insectivorous birds that lead a diurnal lifestyle.

All ants activate the movement of substances along trophic chains, control the numbers herbivores arthropods animals.

Inside the anthill always present symbiont bacteria, helping ants digest heavy plant food. With an increase in the amount of sweet food, the number of bacteria increases significantly, which leads to an increase in number of ants and to reproduction the anthill itself. In such a favorable state, the uterus begins lay eggs, from which winged mature individuals emerge.

Mass departure winged ants contributes to the formation of several new anthills. For the insectivorous inhabitants of the tropical forest, the flight of winged ants is abundant food supply. So, following the departure of winged ants, the number of other species increases.

It is important! U bullet ants has its own specific role. Possessing powerful weapons, they are capable protect your tree from invasions of destroyers, collecting herbivorous arthropods.

Having advantages in size, jaw strength, presence of poison, bullets they don't let me in other ants on your tree, rids the plant of aphids. However, the most significant point is security trees from leaf-cutter ants, capable of leaving the plant without most of its leaves in a matter of hours.

Bullet Ant not a monster, He rainforest worker. The function of these formidable insects is in tree conservation, curbing the number of species capable of sudden population increases. They perform this function thanks to the organization of the family and the presence of poison.

Useful video

See what bullet ants look like in the video below:

Even the most harmless insects cause humanity a lot of trouble, eating productive plantations, destroying fruit and ornamental trees, causing damage to the forest. But what can we say about those that cause harm to human health?

Sometimes we don’t even suspect about them. There are thousands of them and they are all around us. You need to know the enemy by sight. Today we will present a rating of the most dangerous insects, the bite of which is very painful, and sometimes the reaction may not be reversible.

Some sting, others pinch, others are pinched. But all cause great pain and suffering. Who is this? The presented rating is based on the Schmidt scale.

This is a scientist entomologist who distributed the points in ascending order depending on the degree of pain. This is what happened.

On the Schmidt scale, 1 point is assigned. These are small bees that outwardly did not foretell trouble. Representatives belong to the family of halics. They are gray, black, and yellowish in color. Pubescence is visible throughout the body. Settlement area throughout to the globe except Australia.

Usually, ordinary cultivated bees do not rush at a person, but with this case the situation is different. She is attracted by the smell of salt, which is released during the work of human sweat glands.

Trying to brush off an insect has the opposite effect. It stings. The pain from the bite is mild and resembles a small electric shock.

The pain scale is 1.2 points. Family - solenopsis, known as red fire ants. The distribution area is vast, one can affirmatively say that it is all over the world.

These pests can often be found near or inside human homes. They very quietly creep up on their prey and bite into the skin with lightning speed, inflicting a severe bite with their powerful tusks.

After a bite, the skin hurts unbearably and burns, as the alkaloid poison of solenopsis gets under the skin. For this they received the nickname fiery.

The preferred habitat is near plants of the genus Acacia, which is where they got their name. The bite on the scale is 1.8 points. The acacia tree is a source of food and shelter for ants of this family. They stand their houses at the roots of the plant.

In addition, they protect their territory from attacks by herbivores. Meeting them is not safe for humans either.

The external structure and striped color resemble climbing wasps, and they have huge eyes. The bite of such an ant resembles a shot from a sharp object. It is precise and immediate, with long-lasting unpleasant sensations.

The spotted wasp (scolia) is one of the largest representatives of the wasp family. The body length reaches from 1 to 6 cm, in rare cases more. One can imagine meeting an insect whose wingspan is up to 10 cm. It is practically a small bird.

Coloring is distinctive feature Scolia. There are yellowish or orange dots on the back. There are four of them. This type of wasp is also distinguished from others by the color of its wings; they are purple or lilac. There are small hairs all over the body.

An interesting fact is that spotted wasps use nectar for their own food, and to feed their offspring they use the larvae of other insects: chafers, rhinoceroses, etc. These beetles have weak immunity to wasp venom. Having stung its beetle victim, the wasp only paralyzes it and at that moment lays its larva on its body. As the larva develops, it begins to eat its food.

Spotted scolia lead a diurnal lifestyle, flying over meadows, forests, and often fly into blooming garden, where you can encounter it. The insect has a smooth sting, which requires repeated piercing of the skin. The sensation after being bitten by a spotted wasp is reminiscent of the moment of nailing your fingers with a hammer or doors.

Common wasp

A wasp sting is considered the most painful. We looked at one of the representatives of this family - Scolia spotted giants. This should also include the common wasp, which we often encounter in Everyday life than with the first one.

Striped insect yellow color. Her torso seems to be tied with a thread, separating her head and chest from her abdomen. It has two long antennae divided into many segments and large eyes. Insects can be found anywhere, as they feed not only on flower nectar, but also on food debris.

In the summer, while cleaning and cutting fish in nature, putting kebab on skewers, you can see an insect circling nearby. She is not averse to feasting on corpse remains. Common wasps prefer a solitary existence, but they usually swarm near human habitation.

An encounter with a wasp can be dangerous for a person, not only because of the pain of the bite, but also because of the allergic reaction caused. At the site of the bite, swelling, redness and itching appear immediately. Children may develop a fever. With more serious lesions (massive), anaphylactic shock and death occur.

On the Schmidt scale, the bite is 2 points and resembles putting out a cigarette on the skin.

Honey bee and hornet

If we combine them by the number of points, then it is better to classify wasps and bees in one subgroup. The sting of a honey bee and a hornet reaches two points. Both insects are often found close to humans.

The honey bee is an insect that everyone is familiar with. People breed them to obtain bee products and consume their benefits in everyday life. In addition, their usefulness for Agriculture. Bees are natural plant pollinators. The harm from it is minimal, only if you don’t want to touch it.

Insects live in groups. Their families are very complex. Each contains drones, infertile females, and a queen bee, all of which perform specific roles. Externally, a bee looks like a wasp, but is much smaller in size and has a duller color. The entire body is covered with hairs.

It is known that a bee stings and then dies, as it leaves its sting in the body of the victim. And the bite resembles a strong burning sensation.
The hornet is famous for the same bite. It is difficult to confuse a hornet with a bee or wasp due to its impressive size. Otherwise, it resembles its relatives.

This insect is rated 3 for its bite, meaning it is much more painful than the ones mentioned above. The insect always defends its territory, so the likelihood of being bitten by it increases.

How to distinguish it from other ants?

1. It lives in America; only 5 species are found in Russia.
2. Lives in huge populations.
3. Upon examination, you can easily distinguish the head, chest and abdomen of a reddish-orange color.
4. Activity and excessive mobility.
5. It has powerful jaws that resemble the action of a trap.
6. They have several pairs of eyes.
7. The body size reaches from 6 to 8 mm.
8. Ants of this genus have a sting, which is designed to protect against enemies.

Reapers do not try to contact a person unless the other person causes them harm. In any case, they try to escape. But there is never an hour when you have to bite the victim. The bite resembles pain, as if a nail is being pulled out.

When approaching the first most painful bite, it is worth noting the paper wasp. On the Schmidt scale it is 4 points. It can be recognized by its darker brown body color with bright yellow stripes. The wasp got its name due to the fact that its saliva contains a special enzyme that turns the processed plant into paper. Her hives are built from this material.

Small huts can be found in the grass in the meadows, attached to tall grass or in the trees. It is not uncommon to find them under the eaves of a house or under the siding, in the roof. Their structure is very symmetrical, beautiful and durable.

While other wasp species prefer solitude, paper wasps live in communities. Wasp families are very hard-working, they constantly build, obtain food to feed their larvae, and also protect from the enemy.

Paper wasps are similar in size to bees. They feed exclusively on nectar, aphids, and fruit juice. To feed the larvae, a digested mixture of ants, beetles, and caterpillars is used.

For humans, the danger of wasps lies in their bites. But she herself will not attack until the right moment arises. Therefore, when you find an insect, you should remain calm and not wave your arms. If you kill one individual, then there is a risk of being defeated by other, aggressive representatives.

If paper wasps are visible on your property, it means they have built a home for themselves and will not leave it in the near future. To avoid their attack, do not use deodorants or perfumes, the smells of which may attract insects.

The tarantula hawk is a species of wasp that is classified as a road wasp. They get their name because of their affinity for hunting tarantula spiders. Imagine the size of a spider and the size of a wasp. This ratio is terrifying, but the wasp is able to kill him and drag him to his lair.

The tarantula hawk is very distinctive, with bright orange wings and a bluish-black body. Its long limbs with hooks at the ends are capable of lifting any load, which includes the dead body of the spider. On the pain scale, this wasp has a 4 point, and the bite is comparable to a high-voltage electric shock.

Perhaps the most painful bite, which reaches more than 4 points, is the bite of a bullet ant. The insect got its name precisely because of its bite, which resembles when a bullet pierces the body.

The insects are very large, black in color with a red tint. Habitat: South America. The length of the body reaches 3 cm. Of all types of ants, bullets are the largest. Residents of America call it twenty-four hours, since the duration of pain after meeting it is exactly one day, then it begins to subside.

Conclusion

Of course the list is not complete. If we do not take into account the scale that Schmidt came up with, then this rating could be continued, including other insects.

But even with these representatives of the fauna we encounter every day, therefore, knowing the rating of the most painful bites insects, let's try not to pick them up, kill them, so as not to feel all the pain.

The bullet ant is the only member of the entire genus Paraponera Smith, which comes from the subfamily Paraponerinae. These large ants with powerful sting They live in the tropics of South and Central America, covering the area from Costa Rica and Nicaragua in the northern part to Paraguay in the southern part. The center of the range of these insects is located in Ecuador.

The main distinguishing feature of this one is a well-developed strong sting with paralyzing poison.

Appearance of an ant

The ant has a large body covered with a hard shell. Body length varies between 18–30 mm depending on the status of the individual. But the queen ant is not much larger than an ordinary worker ant.

The body color of all representatives of this species is almost the same - from red-brown to dark brown. The uterus is noticeably distinguished from the rest of the family by its large abdomen. The entire body, especially the limbs of the ant, is covered with thin needle-like spines. Slightly convex dark eyes are located on the sides of the head. The eggs are yellowish-white, round in shape.

Insect lifestyle

Ants dig deep nests (up to 65 cm) with 1 entrance and 1 exit, which is most often located near the lower gallery. An ant's home resembles multi-storey building– numerous high and long galleries extend to the side along the entire length at different levels from the high vertical tunnel. In addition, insects also take care of the drainage system when building a house. To do this, they build a deep channel extending down from the nest.

Ants are also very careful when choosing a place to place their nest.