Bullet Ant

• defensaIt has one of the most painful stings in the insect world, rated at the top of the Schmidt pain index.
• GeneralIts sting is the most painful recorded in any insect and can hurt for up to 24 hours.
• The Sateré-Mawé people of the Brazilian Amazon use it in an initiation rite in which young men must wear woven gloves filled with living ants.
• Its venom contains poneratoxin, a neurotoxin that blocks nerve transmission and is studied as a pharmacological model.
• Its sting scores the maximum on the Schmidt sting pain index, 4+, and the pain can last 24 hours, which is why in some areas it is called the twenty-four-hour ant.
• The venom is neurotoxic: it blocks nerve transmission in arthropods and causes extreme pain in mammals.
• Unlike most ants, the workers are not polymorphic and the queen is barely larger than they are.
• The Sateré-Mawé of Brazil use it in their male initiation rite, with woven gloves full of ants.
• It communicates by stridulation as well as by pheromones, and can call for help with sound if it gets trapped.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Lowland tropical rainforest

Sexual maturity

Mature colonies produce winged males and new queens that leave on a nuptial flight; raising a complete generation of workers can take up to 18 months

Litter / clutch size

Colonies of several hundred individuals, with reported maxima of 2,000 to 3,000 workers and a single breeding queen

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraponera_clavata; Ficha de especie de Paraponera clavata; fichas de cria; AntWiki; recopilaciones de biologia de la especie

Best time: Active all year in lowland rainforest, up to 750 m in altitude; the nests sit at the base of trees and the workers forage in the canopy