Bullet Ant Facts: Habitat, Predators, and Sting

The bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) is a tropical rainforest ant named for its powerfully painful sting, which is said to be comparable to being shot with a bullet.

The bullet ant has many common names, however. In Venezuela, it is called the "24-hour ant" because the pain of a sting can last a full day. In Brazil, the ant is called formigão-preto or "big black ant." The Indigenous names for the ant translate to, "the one who wounds deeply." By any name, this ant is feared and respected for its sting.

Bullet Ant Appearance and Habitat

Worker ants range from 18 to 30 mm (0.7 to 1.2 in) in length. They are reddish-black ants with large mandibles (pincers) and a visible stinger. The queen ant is slightly larger than the workers.

Bullet ants live in the tropical rainforest of Central and South America, in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. The ants build their colonies at the base of trees so they can forage in the canopy. Each colony contains several hundred bullet ants.

Bullet Ant Predators, Prey, and Parasites

Bullet ants eat nectar and small arthropods. One type of prey, the glasswing butterfly (Greta oto) has evolved to produce larvae that taste unpleasant to bullet ants.

The phorid fly (Apocephalus paraponerae) is a parasite of injured bullet ant workers. Injured workers are common because bullet ant colonies fight with each other. The scent of the injured ant lures the fly, which feeds on the ant and lays eggs in its wound. A single injured ant may harbor up to 20 fly larvae.

Bullet ants are preyed upon by various insectivores and also by each other.

The Most Painful Insect Sting

Although nonaggressive, bullet ants will sting when provoked. When one stings, it releases chemicals that signal other bullet ants in the vicinity to sting repeatedly. The bullet ant has the most painful sting of any insect, according to the Schmidt Pain Index. The pain is described as blinding, electric pain, comparable to being shot with a gun.

Two other insects, the tarantula hawk wasp and warrior wasp, have comparable stings to that of the bullet ant. However, the pain from the tarantula hawk sting lasts less than 5 minutes, and that from the warrior wasp extends to two hours. Bullet ant stings, on the other hand, produce waves of agony that last 12 to 24 hours.

The primary toxin in bullet ant venom is poneratoxin. Poneratoxin is a small neurotoxic peptide that inactivates voltage-gated sodium ion channels in skeletal muscle to block synapse transmission in the central nervous system. In addition to excruciating pain, bullet ant venom produces temporary paralysis and uncontrollable shaking. Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, fever, and cardiac arrhythmia. Allergic reactions to the venom are rare. While the venom is not lethal to humans, it paralyzes or kills other insects. Poneratoxin is a good candidate for use as a bio-insecticide.

First Aid

Most bullet ant stings can be prevented by wearing over-the-knee boots and watching for colonies near trees. If disturbed, the bullet ants' first defense is to release a stinky warning scent. If the threat persist, ants will bite and latch on with their mandibles prior to stinging. Ants may be brushed away or removed with tweezers. Quick action may prevent a sting.

In the event of stings, the first action is to remove bullet ants from the victim. Antihistamines, hydrocortisone cream, and cold compresses may help alleviate swelling and tissue damage at the sting site. Prescription pain relievers are required to address the pain. If untreated, most bullet ant stings resolve on their own, although the pain may last for a day and uncontrolled shaking may persist much longer.

Bullet Ants and Initiation Rites

The Sateré-Mawé people of Brazil use ant stings as part of a traditional rite of passage. To complete the initiation rite, boys first gather the bullet ants. The ants are sedated by immersion in an herbal preparation and placed into gloves woven of leaves with all their stingers facing inward. The boy must wear the mitt a total of 20 times before he is considered to be a warrior.

Sources

• Capinera, J.L. (2008). Encyclopedia of Entomology (2nd ed.). Dordrecht: Springer. p. 615. ISBN 978-1-4020-6242-1.
• Hogue, C.L. (1993). Latin American Insects and Entomology. University of California Press. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-520-07849-9.
• Schmidt, J.O. (2016). The Sting of the Wild. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-4214-1928-2.
• Schmidt, Justin O.; Blum, Murray S.; Overal, William L. (1983). "Hemolytic activities of stinging insect venoms". Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology. 1 (2): 155–160. doi:10.1002/arch.940010205
• Szolajska, Ewa (June 2004). "Poneratoxin, a neurotoxin from ant venom: Structure and expression in insect cells and construction of a bio-insecticide". European Journal of Biochemistry. 271 (11): 2127–36. doi:10.1111/j.1432-1033.2004.04128.x