Paraponera
Encyclopedia
Paraponera is a genus
of ant
consisting of a single species, commonly known as the lesser giant hunting ant, conga ant, or bullet ant (Paraponera clavata), named on account of its powerful and potent sting, which is said to be as painful as being shot
with a bullet
. It inhabits humid lowland rainforests from Nicaragua
south to Paraguay
. The bullet ant is called "Hormiga Veinticuatro" or "24 (hour) ant" by the locals, referring to the 24 hours of pain that follow being stung.
s. Paraponera is predaceous and like all primitive poneromorphs, does not display polymorphism
in the worker caste. The queen
is not much larger than the workers.
n, and is ranked as the most painful according to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index
, given a "4+" rating, above the tarantula hawk wasp
. It is described as causing "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours". It is thought that the ant has evolved this way to ward off any predators who would normally unearth them. A paralyzing neurotoxic
peptide
isolated from the venom
is poneratoxin. It affects voltage-dependent sodium ion channels
and blocks the synaptic transmission
in the insect
central nervous system
. It is being investigated for possible medical applications.
people of Brazil
use intentional bullet ant stings as part of their initiation rites to become a warrior. The ants are first rendered unconscious by submerging them in a natural sedative and then hundreds of them are woven into a glove made out of leaves (which resembles a large oven mitt), stinger
facing inward. When the ants regain consciousness, a boy slips the glove onto his hand. The goal of this initiation rite is to keep the glove on for a full ten minutes. When finished, the boy's hand and part of his arm are temporarily paralyzed because of the ant venom, and he may shake uncontrollably for days. The only "protection" provided is a coating of charcoal on the hands, supposedly to confuse the ants and inhibit their stinging. To fully complete the initiation, however, the boys must go through the ordeal a total of 20 times over the course of several months or even years.
and on Barro Colorado Island
(BCI), Panama
, found that there are approximately four bullet ant nests per hectare
of forest. On BCI the nests were found under 70 species of tree, 6 species of shrub, 2 species of liana
and 1 species of palm. Nests were most common beneath the canopies of Faramea occidentalis and Trichilia tuberculata but these trees are also the most abundant in the forest. Nests were present more frequently than would be expected based on the abundance of the trees under Alseis blackiana, Tabernaemontana arborea, Virola sebifera
, Guaria guidonia and Oecocarpus mapoura. The large number of nest plants suggests that there is little active selection of nest sites by bullet ants. Small shrubs however are under utilised, probably because they do not provide access to the forest canopy. The study on BCI concluded that trees with buttresses and extrafloral nectaries may be selected for by bullet ants.
, Apocephalus paraponerae, is a parasite of injured workers of P. clavata, of which there is a constant supply because there are frequent aggressive encounters between neighbouring colonies resulting in maimed workers. They are able to parasitise healthy ants if they are artificially restrained, but this is thought to be rare in practice as healthy ants are agile and able to repel the flies. Both male and female flies are attracted by the scent of injured ants, the females to lay eggs as well as feed and the males to feed and possibly to mate with the females. The flies are attracted to a crushed ant within two to three minutes and ten or more flies may be attracted to each ant. Each ant can harbour 20 fly larvae. Carl Rettenmeyer
observed P. clavata actively trying to attack A. paraponerae when they approached the entrance to their nest, but other authors have not observed similar behaviour.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
consisting of a single species, commonly known as the lesser giant hunting ant, conga ant, or bullet ant (Paraponera clavata), named on account of its powerful and potent sting, which is said to be as painful as being shot
Stopping power
Stopping power is a colloquial term used to describe the ability of a firearm or other weapon to cause a penetrating ballistic injury to a target, human or animal, sufficient to incapacitate the target where it stands....
with a bullet
Bullet
A bullet is a projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun. Bullets do not normally contain explosives, but damage the intended target by impact and penetration...
. It inhabits humid lowland rainforests from Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
south to Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
. The bullet ant is called "Hormiga Veinticuatro" or "24 (hour) ant" by the locals, referring to the 24 hours of pain that follow being stung.
Description
Workers are 18–30 mm long and resemble stout, reddish-black, wingless waspWasp
The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
s. Paraponera is predaceous and like all primitive poneromorphs, does not display polymorphism
Polymorphism (biology)
Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words, the occurrence of more than one form or morph...
in the worker caste. The queen
Queen ant
A queen ant is an adult, reproducing female ant in an ant colony; generally she will be the mother of all the other ants in that colony. Some female ants do not need to mate to produce offspring, reproducing through asexual parthenogenesis or cloning and all of those offspring will be female.Ant...
is not much larger than the workers.
Sting
The pain caused by this insect's sting is purported to be greater than that of any other HymenopteraHymenoptera
Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...
n, and is ranked as the most painful according to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index
Schmidt Sting Pain Index
The Schmidt Sting Pain Index is a pain scale rating the relative pain caused by different Hymenopteran stings. It is mainly the work of Justin O. Schmidt, an entomologist at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Arizona...
, given a "4+" rating, above the tarantula hawk wasp
Tarantula hawk
A tarantula hawk is a spider wasp which hunts tarantulas as food for its larvae. Tarantula hawks belong to any of the many species in the genera Pepsis and Hemipepsis in the family Pompilidae ....
. It is described as causing "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours". It is thought that the ant has evolved this way to ward off any predators who would normally unearth them. A paralyzing neurotoxic
Neurotoxin
A neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells , usually by interacting with membrane proteins such as ion channels. Some sources are more general, and define the effect of neurotoxins as occurring at nerve tissue...
peptide
Peptide
Peptides are short polymers of amino acid monomers linked by peptide bonds. They are distinguished from proteins on the basis of size, typically containing less than 50 monomer units. The shortest peptides are dipeptides, consisting of two amino acids joined by a single peptide bond...
isolated from the venom
Venom
Venom is the general term referring to any variety of toxins used by certain types of animals that inject it into their victims by the means of a bite or a sting...
is poneratoxin. It affects voltage-dependent sodium ion channels
Sodium ion channel
Sodium channels are integral membrane proteins that form ion channels, conducting sodium ions through a cell's plasma membrane. They are classified according to the trigger that opens the channel for such ions, i.e...
and blocks the synaptic transmission
Synapse
In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell...
in the insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
. It is being investigated for possible medical applications.
Initiation rites
The Satere-MaweSatere-Mawe
The Satere-Mawe is an indigenous tribe located in the Brazilian Amazon, with an estimated population of about 7,000. The Satere are most famous for the cultivating and extracting process of guarana....
people of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
use intentional bullet ant stings as part of their initiation rites to become a warrior. The ants are first rendered unconscious by submerging them in a natural sedative and then hundreds of them are woven into a glove made out of leaves (which resembles a large oven mitt), stinger
Stinger (organ)
A sting, sometimes called a stinger in the US, is a sharp organ or body part found in various animals that delivers some kind of venom . A true sting differs from other piercing structures in that it pierces by its own action and injects venom, as opposed to teeth, which pierce by the force of...
facing inward. When the ants regain consciousness, a boy slips the glove onto his hand. The goal of this initiation rite is to keep the glove on for a full ten minutes. When finished, the boy's hand and part of his arm are temporarily paralyzed because of the ant venom, and he may shake uncontrollably for days. The only "protection" provided is a coating of charcoal on the hands, supposedly to confuse the ants and inhibit their stinging. To fully complete the initiation, however, the boys must go through the ordeal a total of 20 times over the course of several months or even years.
Nest distribution
Colonies consist of several hundred individuals and are usually situated at the bases of trees. Workers forage arboreally in the area directly above the nest for small arthropods and nectar, often as far as the upper canopy; little foraging occurs on the forest floor. Nectar, carried between the mandibles is the most common food that is taken back to the nest by foragers. Two studies in Costa RicaCosta Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
and on Barro Colorado Island
Barro Colorado Island
Barro Colorado Island is located in the man-made Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. The island was formed when the waters of the Chagres River were dammed to form the lake. When the waters rose, they covered a significant part of the existing rainforest, and the hilltops remained as...
(BCI), Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, found that there are approximately four bullet ant nests per hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
of forest. On BCI the nests were found under 70 species of tree, 6 species of shrub, 2 species of liana
Liana
A liana is any of various long-stemmed, woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. Lianas are especially characteristic of tropical moist deciduous...
and 1 species of palm. Nests were most common beneath the canopies of Faramea occidentalis and Trichilia tuberculata but these trees are also the most abundant in the forest. Nests were present more frequently than would be expected based on the abundance of the trees under Alseis blackiana, Tabernaemontana arborea, Virola sebifera
Virola sebifera
Virola sebifera,also known as Myristica sebifera, common names Ucuúba-do-Cerrado and red ucuuba, is a type of tree from the family Myristicaceae, from Central America and South America...
, Guaria guidonia and Oecocarpus mapoura. The large number of nest plants suggests that there is little active selection of nest sites by bullet ants. Small shrubs however are under utilised, probably because they do not provide access to the forest canopy. The study on BCI concluded that trees with buttresses and extrafloral nectaries may be selected for by bullet ants.
Parasites
The small (1.5–2 mm long) phorid flyPhorid fly
Phoridae is a family of small, hump-backed flies resembling fruit flies. Phorid flies can often be identified by their escape habit of running rapidly across a surface rather than taking to the wing. This behaviour is a source of one of their alternate names: scuttle fly. They are a diverse and...
, Apocephalus paraponerae, is a parasite of injured workers of P. clavata, of which there is a constant supply because there are frequent aggressive encounters between neighbouring colonies resulting in maimed workers. They are able to parasitise healthy ants if they are artificially restrained, but this is thought to be rare in practice as healthy ants are agile and able to repel the flies. Both male and female flies are attracted by the scent of injured ants, the females to lay eggs as well as feed and the males to feed and possibly to mate with the females. The flies are attracted to a crushed ant within two to three minutes and ten or more flies may be attracted to each ant. Each ant can harbour 20 fly larvae. Carl Rettenmeyer
Carl Rettenmeyer
Carl W. Rettenmeyer was an American biologist who specialised in army ants. He was born in Meriden, Connecticut and later attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He first became interested in army ants when he visited Panama as an undergraduate and then returned there as a postgraduate...
observed P. clavata actively trying to attack A. paraponerae when they approached the entrance to their nest, but other authors have not observed similar behaviour.
Further reading
- Weber, N. A. (1939). The sting of the ant, Paraponera clavata. Science, 89, 127–128.
- Lattke, JE (2003) - Subfamilia Ponerinae in Introducción a las Hormigas de la Région Neotropical - Von Humboldt Institute, Bogota, Colombia.