Paraponera clavata is the single living species of the primitive Paraponera genus and is commonly known as the bullet ant on account of its infamous sting. The sting is indeed potent and said to be as painful as being shot.
The Satere-Mawe people of Brazil have an equally apt name for Paraponera clavata, "Hormiga Veinticuatro", the "24 (hour) ant". This is because following a being pierced by this ants impressive 5 mm sting, you can expect 24 hours of agonising pain. The Schmidt Sting Pain Index describes the sting as causing "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours" and places it some 30 times more potent than a common wasp.
Steve Backshall of The Times said that the sensational sting of the bullet ant caused him to "(cry) like a stuck piglet for three whole hours." The sting is used to convince would-be vertebrate predators to think they have sustained massive damage and to move away quickly.
Bullet ants are a large species, with workers reaching up to 25 mm in length; queens being only slightly larger than workers and thus little modified for egg production.
They're a predaceous species, termites being a common food choice. Even mature colonies only reach a few hundred in number and this species does not display polymorphism in the worker caste.
Nests are made at the base of trees and foraging is mostly done in the forest canopy, usually accessed via the tree on which the nest is based. When a food source is found, nest mates are recruited via pheromone trails and workers often find their way back to the nest with visual landmarks.
Tags: Clavata
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