Where do bullet ants live. The most painful sting in the insect world. The most dangerous ant in the world

Paraponera clavata, or "bullet ant" - large predatory tropical ants from the genus Paraponera with a strong sting and poison.

Paraponera clavata, or "bullet ant"

Another name for the ant is "Hormiga Veinticuatro" ("ant-24 [hours]") as the pain is felt for almost a day. The force of the sting exceeds that of the venom of any wasp or bee. An unusually strong bite feels like a bullet wound. In the 1990 "Insect Biting Pain Register" compiled by one Justin Schmidt, this ant's sting ranks first with the following description: "Pure, deep, glorious pain. It's like walking on hot coals with a three-inch rusty nail in the heel."

Body length from 18 to 25 mm and brownish-black color. Paraponera is the most dangerous representatives of the ant world. They have the most toxic poison known to science insects. They create very numerous families exceeding 1,000 individuals. There are both mono- and polygynous colonies. A certain polymorphism is also observed, when the smallest are engaged in brood, and the largest are foraging and protecting the nest.

Paraponera build deep nests up to 65 cm deep. To do this, they choose the bases of plants or crevices in the roots of trees. Often nests have 1 entrance and 1 black exit (usually it comes from the lowest gallery). Many long and high galleries extend from the vertical tunnel in different directions; a deep drainage channel is always built down from the nest.

They forage mainly at night. Focusing on pheromone paths. Experienced foragers learn and memorize the area, which allows them to use local landmarks to find a nest or hunt. Paraponera is a superficial zoonecrophage, that is, it feeds on both carrion and living victims, most often these are large insects and sometimes small vertebrates. They cut the victims into pieces and carry them home, the larvae eat the pieces without pre-treatment by the workers. Paraponera is strongly greedy for nectar and liquid sweets. In nature, they often collect it from plants and drink the juice by cutting the bark. They can consume it in wild quantities, which is why they are sometimes referred to as "honey cakes".

These ants are quite caring parents.

Inside the nest, workers feed the larvae with nectar, leaving massive droplets or trophallaxis.

These ants are quite caring parents, they often cover the floor of the nest with various plant remains and lay larvae and brood on them, this allows the larvae to drink the left liquids and keep the pupae in the right atmosphere.

Toxic sting.

The paraponera is a non-aggressive ant unless touched or startled. In danger, he begins to secrete musky pheromone and hiss, but if this does not help, then he attacks with a sting containing poison - poneratoxin. It is a paralyzing neurotoxin peptide and blocks ion synaptic channels. Causes local paralysis and wave impulses of hot hellish pain. The action of the poison lasts 24 hours (for which the ant got its name) and only then begins to subside. Due to the toxicity of the poison, the possibility of an allergic reaction is very high, which can turn into anaphylaxis and possibly lead to death. The best way to alleviate your suffering is not to touch the ant. And medical: cool the limb in ice water. Swallow the maximum dose of Benedryl capsules (Benedryl - antihistamine) to counter a possible allergic response. This combination effectively alleviates pain and induces drowsiness, relaxation, or sleep during the climax of the venom reaction. In case of a more severe reaction such as difficulty breathing or swallowing (signs of anaphylaxis, swelling of the lungs and upper respiratory tract), take EpiPens (self-administered adrenaline), Proventil (asthmatic) inhaler, and Prednisone (steroid) tablets, all prescribed by the doctor. (Attention: The latter only in the presence of a doctor or on his urgent recommendation). In any case, after the first measures, you need to call the doctor and name the poison, the bite site, the measures taken, the period of poisoning, and of course the address.

In many Indian tribes, rites of initiation of boys to adulthood are held. A variety of methods are used for this ritual. Among some South American tribes, one of these is initiation by Paraponera clavata ants. At first glance, it may seem that this is so terrible. Well, an ant will bite, it will hurt a little and that's it. But it was not there. The fact is that his bite is almost 30 times more painful than a wasp sting, and this unbearable pain lasts for a whole day. Paraponera or "bullet ant" (lat. Paraponera clavata) (eng. Bullet ant) These ants live in Central and South America, and more precisely, in the territory from Nicaragua in the north to Paraguay in the south. They build underground nests among the roots of trees at a depth of up to half a meter, which most often have only 1 main entrance and 1 exit.

These are fairly large ants. They reach a length of 1.8 to 2.5 centimeters. All individuals have a brownish-black color, regardless of their "social status" in the colony. Even the female is not much different from an ordinary ant, though in size it still slightly exceeds it.

The bullet ant got its name from its powerful sting with a strong poison containing a paralyzing neurotoxin - poneratoxin. Its bite leads to paralysis of the bitten part of the body and convulsions, and is also accompanied by terrible pain. This condition lasts for a whole day, after which the unbearable pain begins to gradually subside. For this, the paraponera was also nicknamed the "ant 24 [hours]." Its bite is deadly for allergy sufferers, as it can cause anaphylactic shock and possibly death.
No matter how terrible and deadly these ants are. They will never attack first. If a curious daredevil approaches the ant very close, the paraponera will first warn with a hiss and an unpleasant smell that it is better not to approach it, and if these warning signals do not work, then it will attack with its sting.

Colonies of these ants are not numerous and most often number no more than 1000 individuals.
Larger ants are engaged in harvesting food (foraging), while smaller ones are responsible for the brood. They are omnivorous, so they will gladly taste both carrion and living prey, which are large insects and small vertebrates. Ants cut their prey into pieces and bring them to the nest. They find their way to "home" along special pheromone paths. Their larvae eat prey without pretreatment of adults. Despite such taste preferences, these ants have a big sweet tooth. They are very fond of drinking the sweet juice of plants and nectar.


And about the rite of initiation with the help of these ants, I suggest watching a video. And some explanatory information: the Indians “weave” these ants into special “mittens”, which the young men must hold on their hands for 10 minutes. Often this leads to temporary paralysis of the hands.

Entomologist explains why bullet ant bite you never want to experience.

Dr. Justin Schmidt, director of the Southwestern Biological Institute, knows pain.

In fact, he invented the stinging pain index, which classifies the level of pain when stinged by hymenoptera, which includes wasps, bees, ants.

He told about the first meeting with a bullet ant, a tarantula, a wild wasp - only two bites can reach the highest level of SSPI.

The books are filled with tales of bullet ant bites used as part of rituals by local tribes in the Amazon rainforest. The literature abounded with horror stories about what the bullet ant did, but no one had ever seen it.

I had a large jug in my bag and tried to pick them up with 12" long tongs, but the ants were sticky, which surprised me because big ants tend to be clumsy.

Bullet ants are agile despite huge legs. They went berserk and climbed up the tweezers straight up towards me. They seemed to know that tweezers were the means and the real end was at the top. One of them got up and bit my finger.

The bite really feels like a bullet. There were huge waves of burning, a tsunami of pain coming out of my finger.

The tsunamis hit like they do on the beach, then back off a bit, then hit again.

Everything went on for about 12 hours. It was absolutely excruciating. But I didn't lose the ant, I got it in a jar.

Pain radiated from his finger. No matter what I tried to do to stop her, nothing worked. The sting and pain had a systemic effect, although localized. The pain does not affect the heart or lungs.

Indigenous people are bitten a dozen or more times during puberty in rituals, and none of them suffered the consequences. This is a local pain reaction.

We used everything in folk remedies, I thought maybe ice would help. We went to a 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 that didn't solve the problem. Once the ice was removed, the waves of pain returned.

The ant is a social animal that lives in colonies of 1,000 to 3,000 individuals. They have colonies to defend themselves. The bite should do long-term damage to draw attention. The purpose of a tarantula bite is for the predator to free it. In order to do so, he must inflict instant pain.

Pain from a tarantula bite, as if you were walking under a high-voltage power line in a gale, the wind tore the line and it fell on your hand.

You get 20,000 volts cascading through your body all at once. It's electrical pain. Flowing. 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 shrinks within two or three minutes, but it hurts so much that you don't notice it go away. But all of a sudden, when you're done screaming in pain, your strength is completely exhausted, look at your watch and realize that it only lasted a few minutes. Marvelous.

Millions of people watched the chilling moment when the intrepid TV presenter forced the bullet ant to bite his arm.

Within seconds, the sting pierced the skin, and the 35-year-old man was writhing on the ground, screaming in pain.

He shouted, "I am experiencing hot, radiating waves of pain."

“I feel like someone hit me with a hot poker. I feel poison. It pulsates…”

The ant sting literally knocked the fearless filmmaker off his feet.

These incredible scenes show how he reached the top of the so-called pain index while feeling the wrath of a bullet ant.

Name history

The ants get their name from early Spanish explorers traversing the jungles of Central America, who thought they were shot, not bitten by an insect, when struck with sudden bursts of debilitating pain.

Bullet ants were used as initiation ceremonies to test the bravery of young Amazon warriors.

Coyote described the pain as "stabbed with a hot poker"

Bullet ants have long been used as initiation ceremonies to test the courage of young Amazon warriors who are forced to wear gloves filled with venomous insects before being accepted as grown men.

Peterson suffered a single sting but was knocked down in pain, kneeling on all fours, sweating and screaming, maintaining the insect's reputation for being at the top of the pain index.

Scientists have described the sting in the following terms: "Pure, intense, glistening pain - like walking on glowing coals with a 3-inch nail in the heel."

ukusinfo.ru

The bullet ant is the most dangerous ant in the world.

The bites of most ants that inhabit the planet are not so terrible for humans. There are only a few exceptions, including the bullet ant (Paraponera Clavata), also known as the “ant-24 hours” or killer ant. These folk names of the insect justify themselves because of the strength of pain after a bite.

Why is a bullet ant sting so scary

By its nature, this insect is not so aggressive as to make up legends about it as a bloodthirsty evil creature. In a situation that is not dangerous for itself, the ant is indifferent to humans as well. But even if for some reason the insect senses a threat, the attack will not happen immediately: at first, the ant will try to scare away the potential enemy with a loud hiss, similar to a whistle and an unpleasant odor emitted by an insect to give a warning signal about a possible upcoming attack. If such methods do not work, the victim is to blame.

The bite of Paraponera Clavata feels like a gunshot wound, and the pain will last throughout the day, not decreasing for a minute and causing temporary paralysis of the bitten place and blackening of the skin. Hence the popular names of this insect, which were mentioned above.

It is said that the strength of pain after such an attack is ten 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 the most powerful neurotoxin - poneratoxin, which, in fact, causes the pain described and the reaction of the body of the bitten. For a healthy person, the bite is not fatal, and after a day the torment gradually subsides, but allergy sufferers may not survive after that due to severe intoxication with poison. No wonder the bite of this ant is regarded as the most dangerous and painful in the world among insect bites.

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 slightly larger than the workers. Although there is a division into castes in the family of bullet ants, like their other relatives, there is almost no external difference between them: bullet ants of any status are black-brown in color, a very powerful sting with a capsule of paralyzing poison inside, three pairs of 3 -segmented legs rather large head. The body is covered with needle 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 bearing of eggs. The eggs in the clutch are round and pale yellowish in color.

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

Lifestyle, reproduction

The bullet ant leads a social life. They live in not too large colonies, the number of individuals in which rarely exceeds 1000.

nests

She equips her nests at the base of tree trunks, less often - right on them. Sometimes insects dig houses deep into the earth by 60 cm or more. Such a dwelling can be conditionally compared with a vertical corridor with numerous galleries extending in different directions. But wherever a nest is built, there is always only 1 entrance and 1 exit. A security 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 in order to detect a source of threat.

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

Nutrition

They look for food (forage) Paraponera Clavata 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 the area in search of food, bullet ants leave marks on their way (they secrete pheromones), along which they return to the nest.

Ants kill especially large prey (large insects or small invertebrates) on the spot, but the situation is more complicated with its delivery to the nest. 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. With this food, adult ants feed their offspring, which are able to eat on their own and do not need preliminary grinding of food.

Like most ant species, bullet ants have a sweet tooth. They are happy to feast on nectar or sweet plant substances and juices. They take such yummy to the nest drop by drop, held between the jaws, and treat their relatives, the uterus and larvae there.

reproduction

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

Paraponera clavata are amazing ants, but the fact that they are not ubiquitous is good news, because you don’t wish anyone to face this insect one on one at the time of its warlike mood.

klopsos.ru

bullet ants

• 1 Appearance and habitat
• 2 Lifestyle
• 3 Nutrition
• 4 Bite and Poison

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

Appearance and habitat

All bullet ants have the same color - black-brown, and 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 the ant queen is similar to the rest of the individuals, but has a more rounded abdomen.

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

On a note!

Each individual has a long sting and a large head with powerful mandibles. The legs of the ant and the body are covered with light spikes, 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

Bullet ants prefer to live in tropical rainforests where they can prey on other arthropods and collect sweet nectar from flowers. Insects do not tolerate neighborhood with their brothers, so they fight with them for food and territory.

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

Interesting!

Each house is equipped with a drainage system. This is a long channel that goes down from the nest.

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

• the smallest workers look after the larvae;
• large puli males forage for food and guard the nest.

The colonies are few. Usually there are no more than a thousand ants in a family. The breeding season for ants is December-January. At this time, females and males fly out of the nest to mate.

The bullet protects the tree from attack by leaf cutters where it lives. He does not allow these ants to harm the plant.

Nutrition

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

The search for food is carried out at night. Ants are removed from the anthill by 40 meters. They find their way home thanks to the marks that they make with the help of glands near the paws.

On a note!

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

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

Paraponera clavata lifestyle

The main diet of bullet ants includes:

• large arthropods;
• vertebrate 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 fellows, larvae and the queen.

Interesting!

About 45% of foragers bring food to the anthill. The rest return with nothing. 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, small twigs.

Bite and Poison

The bullet ant is a peaceful insect. He uses his sting for hunting, and he tries to scare the enemy away. For this, the paraponera emits an unpleasant odor and hisses eerily. The arthropod only stings 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 considered killer ants. Stings from other insects have a status of 1 to 4.

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

An ant sting of a bullet causes burning pain and paralysis. The place where the sting stuck may turn black.

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

The bite threatens only the life of allergy sufferers. For other people, it does not pose a mortal danger.

appest.ru

About bullet ants: the ordinary life of unusual insects

Bullet ants are a tropical venomous species. The consequences of the bite of these ants significantly exceed the effects of the poison of wasps, bees, hornets. The tropics are famous for their abundance of poisonous animals.

In favorable climatic conditions, there are many species of organisms that have similar morphology, the same way of life, and similar behavior. Under such conditions, species with special adaptive reactions gain an advantage.

Main characteristics

Bullet ants live in the rainforests of Central and South America. The attachment of this species to forest biotopes is manifested in the arrangement of anthills at the bases of trees, 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. The bullet ants are called for the device of the stinging apparatus, the killer - for the strong poison, 24 - for the duration of the poison.

Killer ants do not seek to bite, paralyze, kill everyone. They prey on other arthropods in the forests. Humans and large animals are dangerous for ants, so these insects are forced to defend themselves.

Bullet ants have the following characteristics:

• body length reaches 2.5 cm;
• the color is black with a brownish tint;
• the head is large, cuboid with rounded corners;
• eyes are 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. A photo

Consequences of a bullet ant bite

The stinging apparatus is located at the end of the abdomen. Its length is 3.5 mm. The reservoir with poison (1.9 by 1 mm) is located at a distance of 3 mm from the sting. This structure of the apparatus led zoologists to an analogy with the movement of a bullet along the barrel of a firearm. So the ant got its main name.

Bullet ant venom is not fatal to large animals. However, after a bite, 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 who know how to protect themselves.

A person bitten by an ant feels severe pain for 24 hours. The bite site and neighboring tissues are covered with paralysis.

Among the Indians of South America, there is a rite of initiation using the poison of a bullet ant. Teenagers wear gloves with ant stingers on their hands. For 10 minutes of wearing gloves, the hands of young men are completely paralyzed. Paralysis lasts 24 hours, and the fingers become mobile after 2-3 days.

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

A person can meet dangerous ants in the jungle, because they do not live in dwellings and settlements. While in the rainforest, care should be taken near tall spreading trees.

When bitten, try to go to the dwelling, to the clearing, the road, take painkillers, drink plenty of water, as it helps to flush out the poison from the body.

Lifestyle, role in the ecosystem

Trees in rainforests provide a habitat for a large number of large and small inhabitants, so bullet ants live in and near trees. Bullet ants feed on fruits, arthropods, and nectar.

Foragers have two directions of routes - the tree and the forest floor around it. These directions allow you to provide the anthill with the most diverse food.

Bullet ants are nocturnal. They go hunting at sunset, but the main activity of ants is at night.

With this mode of operation, ants can collect plant food before dark. Then the hunt for diurnal arthropods begins, 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 number of herbivorous arthropods.

Inside the anthill there are always symbiont bacteria that help ants digest heavy plant foods. 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 reproduction of the anthill itself. In such a prosperous state, the uterus begins to lay eggs, from which winged mature individuals appear.

The mass departure of winged ants contributes to the formation of several new anthills. For the insectivorous inhabitants of the rainforest, the flight of winged ants is an abundant food base. So, following the departure of winged ants, the number of other species increases.

It is important! Bullet ants have their own specific role. Possessing powerful weapons, they are able to protect their tree from invasions of destroyers by collecting herbivorous arthropods.

Having advantages in size, strength of jaws, the presence of poison, bullets do not let other ants into their tree, rid the plant of aphids. However, the most significant point is the protection of trees from leaf-cutting ants, which can leave the plant without most of the leaves in a matter of hours.

The bullet ant is not a monster, it is a rainforest worker. The function of these formidable insects is to preserve trees, to contain the number of species capable of an abrupt increase in population. They perform this function due to the organization of the family and the presence of poison.

Useful video

About what bullet ants look like in the video below:

In contact with

In many Indian tribes, rites of initiation of boys to adulthood are held. A variety of methods are used for this ritual. Among some South American tribes, one of these is initiation by Paraponera clavata ants. At first glance, it may seem that this is so terrible. Well, an ant will bite, it will hurt a little and that's it. But it was not there. The fact is that his bite is almost 30 times more painful than a wasp sting, and this unbearable pain lasts for a whole day.

These ants live in Central and South America, and more precisely, in the territory from Nicaragua in the north to Paraguay in the south. They build underground nests among the roots of trees at a depth of up to half a meter, which most often have only 1 main entrance and 1 exit.

These are fairly large ants. They reach a length of 1.8 to 2.5 centimeters. All individuals have a brownish-black color, regardless of their "social status" in the colony. Even the female is not much different from an ordinary ant, though in size it still slightly exceeds it.

The bullet ant got its name from its powerful sting with a strong poison containing a paralyzing neurotoxin - poneratoxin. Its bite leads to paralysis of the bitten part of the body and convulsions, and is also accompanied by terrible pain. This condition lasts for a whole day, after which the unbearable pain begins to gradually subside. For this, the paraponera was also nicknamed the "ant 24 [hours]." Its bite is deadly for allergy sufferers, as it can cause anaphylactic shock and possibly death.

No matter how terrible and deadly these ants are. They will never attack first. If a curious daredevil approaches the ant very close, the paraponera will first warn with a hiss and an unpleasant smell that it is better not to approach it, and if these warning signals do not work, then it will attack with its sting.

Colonies of these ants are not numerous and most often number no more than 1000 individuals.

Larger ants are engaged in harvesting food (foraging), while smaller ones are responsible for the brood. They are omnivorous, so they will gladly taste both carrion and living prey, which are large insects and small vertebrates. Ants cut their prey into pieces and bring them to the nest. They find their way to "home" along special pheromone paths. Their larvae eat prey without pretreatment of adults. Despite such taste preferences, these ants have a big sweet tooth. They are very fond of drinking the sweet juice of plants and nectar.

And about the rite of initiation with the help of these ants, I suggest watching a video. And some explanatory information: the Indians “weave” these ants into special “mittens”, which the young men must hold on their hands for 10 minutes. Often this leads to temporary paralysis of the hands.

And in this video, one European decided to experience it for himself.

Bullet ant (lat. Paraponera clavata) has the strongest poison among all insects known today. Its bite causes pain similar to a gunshot wound. They do not subside within 24 hours, bringing incredible suffering. It is believed that the venom of a bullet ant is 30 times stronger than that of a wasp or bee. The genus name Paraponera comes from the Greek word ponerina, meaning unbearable pain.

Ants and Indians

In Brazil, on the coast of the Amazon River, there lives a small Indian tribe of Satere-Mave, numbering only about 12 thousand people. Quite peaceful Indians are engaged in gathering, hunting, fishing and growing guarana (lat. Paullinia cupana). The berries of this climbing vine are used like coffee as a strong stimulant and cure for hangovers and diarrhea.

The Satere-Mawe tribe differs from other Indian tribes in two ways. His women are strictly forbidden to speak any language other than their own, and the boys undergo a very painful initiation rite.

When a teenager reaches the age to become an equal member of the tribe, his parents and next of kin go to the forest and collect Paraponera clavata ants. They make something similar to gloves from the leaves and put them on the hands of the young man being tested. 200 vicious insects are launched into the "glove".

The initiation is considered passed if the young Indian lasted about 10 minutes, did not scream and did not lose consciousness from this procedure.

Otherwise, it can be repeated several times, and the time of its passage is increased up to half an hour. It is said that some unfortunates have to go through it for several months or even years.

The maximum number of attempts is 25 times. After that, you can come to terms with your unenviable fate and forever forget about the dream of becoming a full-fledged man in a beautiful feather headdress.

Those who have passed such a test receive a special drug that causes severe vomiting and cleansing of toxins that have entered the bloodstream. His recipe is kept in great secret, so other tribes look with envy at sater-mave and cannot repeat such a feat.

For a European, the bites of just a few ants of this species can end in anaphylactic shock.

Bullet ants are not aggressive and only use their weapons when they are defending the colony or feel threatened. They are easy to learn and quickly adapt to environmental conditions. Exotic lovers are happy to keep them as pets.

A colony of Paraponera clavata in EU countries can be bought for 150-250 euros. Breeding them at home is quite difficult for non-professionals, so ants are imported directly from South America.

Spreading

The species is widely distributed in the equatorial zone north of Nicaragua and south of Bolivia. Ants inhabit tropical moist primary and secondary forests at altitudes up to 750 m above sea level. The only population living at an altitude of 1500 m is in the La Amistad National Park in Costa Rica. In Central America, bullet ants are found on the Atlantic coast.

The ant colony is located on the soil at the foot of the trees, usually in a dark place. The main entrance to the nest is in the trunk or roots of the tree. Additional entrances are located directly in the ground. A large nest may contain many tunnels and about 43 individual chambers ranging in length from 7 to 62 cm. The chambers at the end of the tunnel are used for breeding. Their length does not exceed 10 cm.

Ants build special vaulted ceilings above the chambers, which serve for ventilation and drainage of rainwater.

They fit like tiles. The thickness of the "sewer structures" reaches 13-16 mm. On one hectare there can be up to four colonies, in which from 1 to 2.5 thousand insects live together. In one colony there can be either one or several queens at the same time.

Behavior

With the threat of strangers entering the anthill, bullet ants emit a strong musky smell and noise. If the stranger is not frightened and does not retreat, then soldiers attack him and kill him with their poison.

Bullet ants are active from the beginning of twilight until dawn. It depends on the length of the day and the time of the year. Workers provide food for the colony. They bring insects and small invertebrates from the hunt to the nest. Sometimes they manage to deliver small vertebrates to their native hearth. They are looking for a living among the fallen leaves. They are especially fond of honeydew (sugar secretions of aphids and psyllids).

Flower nectar is eaten mainly as a dietary remedy. Collected prey and sweet liquid is divided among all members of the colony. The larvae are fed chewed insects and drink liquid in the form of small droplets.

reproduction

Swarming occurs in early spring, and mating itself takes place directly on the ground. After mating, the males die. The resulting sperm ant uterus will last for the next 15-20 years of life.

The first egg laying takes place from March to April.

They are deposited in a separate chamber. The larvae appear within a few days. Food for them is obtained by foraging worker ants and passed along the chain from mouth to mouth.

Depending on the amount of hormones produced by the glands located in the lower jaw and ingested, the larvae are determined to belong to one or another caste. The worker ants stay in the nest, while the breeding ants fly out of it.

Description

The body length of worker ants is 18-25 mm. Body color reddish, brownish or blackish. The head is big. It resembles a square with rounded corners. The jaws are very well developed. The length of the sting reaches 3.5 mm. Round protruding eyes located in front of the head

Queens are slightly larger and differ from working individuals in the presence of wings and a larger abdomen. They break off their wings on their own after swarming and fertilization.

The lifespan of a working bullet ant is 2-3 years. Queens live 15-20 years.