Bullet Ant Facts & Information

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What is a bullet ant?

Paraponera clavata, the bullet ant’s scientific name, is a large predatory neotropical ant known for its extremely painful sting. The sensation of a bullet ant's sting is often described as feeling like a gunshot, making it one of the most painful insect stings.

What do bullet ants look like?

Bullet ants are very large, growing up to 1.2 inches long, making them one of the largest ants in the world. They have predominantly black or dark brown bodies with a distinct head, thorax, and abdomen. Their smooth, shiny bodies lack the spines seen in some other ant species. Notably, they possess a prominent stinger used to deliver their notoriously painful sting.

Where do bullet ants live?

The bullet ant is found in the humid lowland rainforests of Central and South America, ranging from El Salvador and Honduras to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.

Another species, known as the Texas bullet ant (Neoponera villosa), is found in Texas and Mexico. This ant is also known for its extremely painful sting.

What do bullet ants eat?

Bullet ants eat plant sap, live spiders, frogs, grasshoppers, beetles, katydids, and the carcasses of other small insects.

Bullet Ant Life Cycle

Bullet ants go through complete metamorphosis – progressing from eggs to larvae, then pupae, before becoming adults. The average lifespan of a bullet ant can be up to 90 days.

Bullet Ant Sting

What does a bullet ant sting feel like?

Being stung by a bullet ant is likened to being shot by a bullet: The pain caused by this insect's sting is purported to be greater than that of any other Hymenopteran. Its sting 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". While their sting is painful, bullet ants aren’t generally aggressive. When provoked, they will typically clamp down with their mandibles first (also painful) before stinging. However, when they sting, they release a chemical that makes all the ants around them go into a stinging frenzy.

Bullet Ant Venom

The primary toxin in bullet ant venom is poneratoxin. In addition to excruciating pain, the venom produces temporary paralysis and uncontrollable shaking. Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, fever, and cardiac arrhythmia.

What’s the difference between bullet ants and bulldog ants?

Bulldog Ants

These ants are among the most dangerous and aggressive in the world. The bulldog ant earned its name due to its relentless determination when attacking prey. When attacking to capture prey or to defend itself, it uses its sting and jaws simultaneously. While biting, the bulldog ant can inject venom strong enough to kill a grown man. The pain of a bulldog ant sting is often described as excruciating, with many comparing it to the sensation of a red-hot poker being plunged into their skin. Bulldog ants are large and measure 8mm to 40mm. They exist mostly in Australia.

Bullet Ants

Bullet ants are known for their large and slender size. The bullet ant is renowned for having the most painful sting of all insects, with the pain from its sting lasting for up to 12 hours or longer. In addition to the sting, the venom can temporarily paralyze the victim and induce uncontrollable shaking. That being said, no one has ever died from a bullet sting. Bullet ants aren’t aggressive unless provoked. They are typically found in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.