Bullet Ants

BULLET ANTS:

KPCOFGS:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Hymenoptera

Family: Formicidae

Genus: Paraponera

Species: Paraponera Clavata

Nº of SPECIES: 2

(Paraponera Clavata and Paraponera dieteri.)

SIZES:

Worker Ants: 0.7-1.2 inches

Queen: Only slightly larger than workers.

LIFESPAN:

Workers: up to 90 days / 3 months.

Queen: Unlike some queen ants that can live up to 30 years, the bullet ant queen lives for a couple of years (2 years). 

WORKERS' LIFESPAN:

Workers: 90 days

Soldiers: 90 days / approximate to regular workers.

EGG to ADULT:

Can vary between 7 to 14 days (1-2 weeks)

COLONY SIZE:

Not exact numbers recorded perfectly, but it is about a pair of hundreds of ants, not too much due to their size.

STING:

The pain of the bullet ant sting dissipates after 24 hours, that's why bullet ants are also known as 24-hour ants. Bullet Ants are called after bullets as their sting is so painful that it is often compared to being shot by a bullet.

The venom is similar to that of a fire ant, as it contains piperidine and solenopsins, which may be a factor that affects breathing.

The toxin released by the sting is a poneratoxin and can cause hallucination.

Poneratoxin causes the voltage-gated sodium channels in membranes to be left open and avoid them from being inactivated. This leads to prolonged activation of the channel protein, which causes bullet ants' pain.

It blocks as well synaptic transmissions in the Central Nervous System.

LOCATION MAP:

Tropical forests of Central and South America.

PHOTO:

(For more information about the websites consulted in this article, see the Bibliography at the bottom of the website.)