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The bullet ant or hormiga veinticuatro is the most dangerous ant in the world.
Translated: “ant 24 hours.” This is how long the non-toxic insect venom, which it injects when biting, acts. The bite of this ant has a value of 4 on the Schmitt scale, which means that the pain from the bite is much stronger than the stings of many dangerous bees and. In some Indian tribes, this type of ant is involved in the initiation rites of boys, to prepare them for the difficulties of adulthood and initiation into warriors. These insects are woven into gloves and placed on your hands for 10 minutes. Numerous bites lead to paralysis of the limbs. These activities are carried out many times throughout the month.
Origin of the species and description
Photo: Ant bullet
Paraponera clavata or bullet ant belongs to the animal kingdom, phylum arthropod. Order Membranaceae. Ant family. Genus Paraponera species Paraponera clavata. This species was originally described as Formica clavata in 1775 by the Danish etymologist Fabricius. Ants are one of the most ancient insects on our planet; ants inhabited our planet 100 million years ago since the Mesozoic era.
Video: Ant bullet
The paleontology of ants is divided into 4 stages: the lower and upper Cretaceous, the Paleocene and early Eocene, the middle Eocene and Oligocene, and the modern Miocene fauna. The fossil remains of ancient ants are poorly preserved and describing them is quite problematic. Over time, scientists developed a separate species of Paraponera; these species belong to the subfamily Paraponerinae Emery.
Ants of this species are predators. They feed on both live insects and carrion. They live in tropical forests. They have a large body that is brownish-black in color. They live in families; there are up to 1000 individuals in one family. They have a sharp sting. When bitten, a dangerous neurotoxin, poneratoxin, is released, which paralyzes the bite site. They are one of the most dangerous arthropods in the world due to the painful bites and the danger of death if an allergic reaction develops.
Pain Remedies
We used all the folk remedies, I thought maybe ice would help. We went to the restaurant. I took the ice from the drinks and put it on my finger. It worked. As long as I kept the ice on my finger, the pain stopped. But this didn't solve the problem. As soon as the ice was removed, the waves of pain returned.
The ant is a social animal that lives in colonies of 1000 to 3000 individuals. They have colonies to defend themselves. The bite must do long-term damage to create a distraction. The purpose of a tarantula bite is for the predator to release it. In order to do this, he must cause instant pain.
The pain of a tarantula bite is as if you were walking under a high-voltage power line in a gale, the wind broke the line and it fell on your hand.
You get 20,000 volts cascading through your body at once. It's electric pain. Flow-through. Very clean and sharp. The good news is that it lasts about three minutes. You won't get waves like you would from a bullet ant. It's just one super intense explosion.
It goes away within two or three minutes, but it hurts so much that you don't notice it going away. But suddenly, when you finish screaming in pain, your strength is completely exhausted, look at the clock and realize that it only lasted a few minutes. Marvelous.
Millions of people watched the chilling moment when an intrepid TV presenter forced a bullet ant to bite his hand.
Within seconds, the sting pierced the skin. The 35-year-old man was writhing on the ground screaming in pain.
He screamed, “I am experiencing hot, radiating waves of pain. I feel like someone hit me with a hot poker. I feel poison. It's pulsating."
The ant bite literally knocked the fearless filmmaker off his feet. These incredible scenes show how he reached the heights of the so-called pain index, feeling the wrath of the bullet ant.
Appearance and features
Photo: What a bullet ant looks like
The bullet ant has a fairly large body, from 17 to 26 mm in length, covered with a hard shell. Worker ants are smaller in size. The female queen is especially large. The wings located on the lower jaw of the insect are 5-segmented. The lips located on the lower lip are three-segmented. The head of ants of this species is sub-square with rounded corners. The insect's eyes are located in front and are slightly convex and round in shape.
Rainbow is black. There are spurs on the tibia of the hind and middle pairs of legs. The first segment of the insect's abdomen is separated from the rest by a constriction. The hind wings have a developed anal lobe. Insects produce a special pheromone liquid using the Dufour gland; this liquid is a mixture of carbohydrates.
Body color ranges from gray-brown to red. Thin needle-like spines can be seen all over the ant's body. There is a sting about 3-3.5 mm long. The venom reservoir is about 1.10 mm long and about a millimeter in diameter. Between the sting and the venom reservoir there is a duct 3 mm long. The poison contains poneratoxin, which lasts 24 hours and causes severe pain to the victim.
It does not attack unless necessary; before biting, it warns of danger with a characteristic pose and hissing. Paraponera clavata eggs are large, round, cream or off-white in color. The queen ant is distinguished by its particularly large size and large convex abdomen.
Now you know whether a bullet ant is poisonous or not. Let's see where the dangerous insect lives.
How to recognize
Ant bullet
The bullet ant is one of the largest of its genus.
- The female grows up to 30 mm. The body length of the remaining individuals ranges from 18-25 mm.
- Color can vary from red-brown to deep brown. Males are smaller in size and lighter in color.
- The uterus has a large abdomen for bearing eggs.
- The body consists of 3 segments.
- There are very small needle growths all over the surface.
- The structure is completed by an impressive sting, with which the insect injects poison.
Looking at the photo of a bullet ant, you can clearly see its powerful mouthparts. It serves not only to capture prey, but also to carry food.
An interesting fact about ants concerns their ability to communicate with each other. Bullets have another ability - the ability to make sounds. Before an attack, individuals always hiss, warning of an attack. They do not attack themselves. An ant can bite only if it senses a threat to its nest.
Where does the bullet ant live?
Photo: Bullet ant in nature
Ants of this species live in tropical rainforests of South America from Costa Rica and Nicaragua to Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Paraguay. These ants can also be found in the forests of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. For life, ants choose lowland forests with a humid tropical climate. Ant families make underground nests among the roots of massive trees. These nests often have only one entrance and one exit. Ant guards are constantly on duty at the entrance; in case of danger, they warn others about it and close the entrances.
The nests are located at a depth of about 0.5 meters. One such nest is home to a small colony of up to a thousand individuals. On one hectare of forest there can be about 4 such nests. Inside, the ants' home is somewhat reminiscent of a multi-story building. From one long tunnel, long and rather high galleries extend to the sides to different levels. During construction, a drainage system is also installed, for which a fairly deep channel is constructed, which extends down from the nest.
Interesting fact: To create a nest, ants most often choose a place at the base of Pentaclethra macroloba trees. This tree secretes sweet nectar, which these insects love to feast on.
Sometimes ants place their nests in the hollows of these trees high above the ground. The height of the hollow can be 14 meters above the ground. The lifespan of worker ants is about 3 years, the female queen lives much longer than 15-20 years, this is due to a calmer and more measured life.
Main characteristics
Bullet ants live in tropical forests of Central and South America. The attachment of this species to forest biotopes is manifested in the construction of anthills at the bases of trees , on trunks, and 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 do not try to bite everyone, paralyze, or kill everyone. They hunt other arthropods the forests. Humans and large animals pose a danger to ants, so these insects are forced to defend themselves.
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.
What does a bullet ant eat?
Photo: Poisonous ant bullet
Ants of this species are superficial zoonecrophages; they feed on both carrion and live small insects.
The diet of Paraponera clavata includes:
- small insects (flies, cicadas, butterflies, centipedes, small bugs, etc.);
- plant nectar;
- juice of fruits and fruits.
The search for food is carried out at night, and exclusively by worker ants. When insects leave the nest, they leave a mark of pheromones along the way; they can use this mark to return, or other ants can find it. The search for food is carried out mainly in the tree and very rarely on the ground. Ants have excellent spatial orientation at any time of the day. They can get food either in a small group or alone.
Ants divide large prey into small pieces in order to deliver it to the anthill. One ant is often simply not able to bring the whole prey, so a whole group of ants is engaged in delivering food. While searching for food, they can find a dead insect, this will be an excellent prey; they can hunt small insects.
In addition to insects, ants of this species are not averse to feasting on the sweet nectar of trees; for this, the ants make small cuts in the bark of trees and obtain sweet juice. Adult ants bring drops of sap to their nest to feed the larvae. The larvae of this species of ants eat food without any preliminary processing.
Lifestyle, role in the ecosystem
Trees in the rainforest
provide habitat for a large number of large and small inhabitants, which is why bullet ants live on and near trees
.
The food base of bullet ants is fruits, arthropods, and nectar. Foragers
have two route directions
–
a tree and the forest floor
around it. These directions make it possible to provide the anthill with the most varied food.
Bullet Ants
lead the 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 and control numbers
herbivorous arthropods
animals.
Inside the anthill
symbiont bacteria are always present
, 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 the number of ants
and to
the proliferation
of the anthill itself.
In such a favorable state, the queen begins to lay eggs
, from which winged, sexually 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 provides an abundant food supply
. So, following the departure of winged ants, the number of other species increases.
It is important! In bullet ants
has its own specific role. Possessing powerful weapons, they are able to protect their tree
from invasions of destroyers, collecting herbivorous arthropods.
Having advantages in size, jaw strength, and the presence of poison, bullets are not allowed
other ants on your tree, rids the plant of aphids
.
However, the most significant point is the protection
of trees from
leaf-cutter ants
, which can leave a plant without most of its leaves in a matter of hours.
The bullet ant is not a monster
, he is a rainforest worker
.
The function of these formidable insects is to preserve trees
and contain 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.
Features of character and lifestyle
Photo: Dangerous ant bullet
Like all ant species, Paraponera clavata has a highly developed social structure. These ants spend their entire lives doing what they are supposed to do in their family. Some ants are builders, others get food, and the queen brings offspring. Ants are active mainly at night. At night they go out hunting to get their food. There is calm and mutual assistance within the family.
However, they treat their relatives from other families with hostility and clashes between clans constantly occur. Food is obtained in trees, or (very rarely) on the ground. Ants dig deep holes and live there in large families. Both males and females take care of the offspring. Adults responsible for food production bring food to the anthill for the larvae and the queen, who practically never leaves the nest.
Foraging occurs on a tree or in the forest floor, and the ants can move up to 40 meters from the nest. Before this, a special strategy is developed for searching for food, where each ant from the group performs its own mission. Returning to the nest, about 40% of workers carry liquid, 20% bring dead insects, and 20% bring plant food.
Ants that bring cargo move much faster than individuals that return empty. If there is a food source nearby, the ants feed exclusively on what they have. It should be noted that the anthill is guarded by a special guard of several ants; in an unclear situation, they examine the area, and in case of danger, they close the entrances and warn other ants about the danger.
They are not aggressive towards people and other creatures unless they sense danger. But, if you approach the nest or try to pick up an ant, it will begin to hiss in warning and secrete a foul-smelling liquid, warning of danger. After which, the insect sticks its sting and sprays paralyzing poison. For allergy sufferers, this bite can be fatal.
Habitat
Bullet Ant Habitat
Residents of Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Paraguay can meet such a dangerous ant. It is also found throughout Central and South America, including areas such as Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. To build a nest, the bullet chooses fallen trees and stumps. In more rare cases, insects build an anthill deep into the soil.
For a full life, a humid tropical climate is most suitable for this species. They definitely need enough moisture to reproduce. If it is not there, then the individuals will try to go as deep into the soil as possible.
Despite the developed network of passages and communications inside the home, it always has only 1 entrance and 1 exit. The path to the anthill is guarded by a pair of soldiers. If they feel threatened, they immediately give a signal to the rest of their brothers.
On a note!
The victim is attacked exclusively in groups. The bites are inflicted instantly, leaving the victim no chance to escape.
In places where this dangerous species of insect lives, the authorities are pursuing an active information policy to prevent contact between local residents and the bullet ant. Be sure to cover the topic of how to behave if bitten by this dangerous species.
Social structure and reproduction
Photo: Ant bullet
The nest is swarmed in the spring. Worker ants do not participate in the reproduction process; special, the healthiest males are selected for reproduction, which die after mating. Mating does not take place inside the nest, as is the case with most living creatures, but on the ground. During mating, the female receives enough sperm to last for the next 20 years of her life. After fertilization, the female independently breaks off her wings and settles into the nest.
The first laying is made in March-April. The female lays eggs in a special chamber. The eggs are round in shape and quite large in size. The color of the eggs is cream or white with yellowish tint. The first larvae are born within a few days, and the offspring are cared for by the entire huge family. Worker ants pass food along a chain from mouth to mouth. The food does not need any special processing; it is absorbed by the larvae in the form in which it is only slightly crushed.
The larvae also obtain water and nectar from worker ants. When the offspring grows up, each ant takes its place in the anthill and begins to fulfill its specific mission.
Interesting fact: Belonging to a certain caste in larvae depends on hormones that are produced by the glands of the lower jaw and enter the food.
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