The Bullet Ant (Paraponera clavata) is an ant species found in lowland tropical rainforests in Central and South America. They are famous for having the most painful sting in the world which is said to be comparable to the pain of being shot, giving them their name.
Bullet Ants are located in the Rainforest spanning from Nicaragua to Paraguay. One of the more frightening things about Bullet Ants is that they nest in trees, shrubs and in the ground.
Distribution. Bull ants are found throughout Australia.
Bullet ant
Last but not least, we have the most painful sting of all — the bullet ant sting. Schmidt describes the pain as “pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel” and rates it as a 4.0+…off-the-charts pain that lasts up to 24 hours.
Painful, But (Probably) Not Deadly
Although the painful sting of a bullet ant is scalding, throbbing and unabating for up to 24 hours after contact, they're not particularly dangerous. "One of the advantages of social insects is that they can attack en masse to defend their colony," says Schmidt.
Even the bullet ant doesn't kill unless you're allergic. Its venom causes pain, but not lethality: getting stung by a few hundred bullet ants is actually a coming-of-age ritual of the Sateré-Mawé tribe in the Amazon.
Bullet Ant. The bullet ant has the distinction of delivering the most painful sting in the insect world, as evidenced by the Schmidt Sting Pain Index.
The most painful
Another common introduced stinger in Australia is the European wasp, Vespula germanica. This wasp's sting doesn't get stuck in our skin, so they can inflict multiple stings when annoyed or provoked.
Some of the most common painful stingers in the Australian bush are native bulldog ants of the genus Myrmecia. These are some of the largest ants in the world and combine a painful sting with an aggressive, take-no-prisoners attitude.
The tarantula hawk has been awarded second place on the Schmidt's sting pain index, beaten only by the South American bullet ant, Paraponera clavata. The pain from a bullet ant sting lasts up to 24 hours, whereas that of the tarantula hawk wasp usually only aggravates the unlucky victim for five minutes.
Pouring 2 to 3 gallons of very hot or boiling water on the mound will kill ants about 60% of the time. Otherwise, the ants will probably just move to another location. Very hot or boiling water will kill the grass or surrounding vegetation that it is poured upon.
Nothomyrmecia, also known as the dinosaur ant or dawn ant, is an extremely rare genus of ants consisting of a single species, Nothomyrmecia macrops. These ants live in South Australia, nesting in old-growth mallee woodland and Eucalyptus woodland.
Most Australian native stinging ants are from the genus Myrmecia. This group is broadly subdivided into Jack Jumper Ants and bull dog ants. Bull dog ants are large, around 15-25 mm long, whereas Jack Jumper Ants are generally 10 to 15mm long and often display jerky, jumping movements.
Bullet ant stings, on the other hand, produce waves of agony that last 12 to 24 hours. The primary toxin in bullet ant venom is poneratoxin. Poneratoxin is a small neurotoxic peptide that inactivates voltage-gated sodium ion channels in skeletal muscle to block synapse transmission in the central nervous system.
The bullet ant's pincer-like mandibles appear disproportionately large, and its stinger is clearly visible. Colonies of bullet ants number several hundred individuals. The average lifespan of the worker ant is ninety days.
Unlike most ants that have specialized diets, bullet ants are dietary generalists that feed on a wide range of food sources ranging from plant sap (such as nectar) to other insects and small vertebrates (such as frogs).
Western Honey Bee
Their sting scores a 2 on the Schmidt Pain Scale, and their sting is described as "burning, corrosive" but manageable. It's like a "flaming match head lands on your arm and is quenched with lye and then with sulphuric acid."
The bullet ant is currently the highest on the Schmidt sting pain index with a rating of 4.0+. Bullet ant stings have been described as causing a burning, throbbing, and all-consuming pain that can last for an entire day. Local names of the bullet ant refer to its extremely painful sting.
Though Australian Paper wasps are not as outwardly aggressive as European wasps, they will likely swarm and sting any threats to their nest. Their stings can cause symptoms ranging from pain and itching to severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis).
The average person can safely tolerate 10 stings per pound of body weight. This means that although 500 stings can kill a child, the average adult could withstand more than 1100 stings.
But the stingray's excruciating sting does not top Fry's list of the most painful bites and stings dished up by Australian wildlife. That honour goes to the box jellyfish.
However, the sting—particularly that of P. grossa—is among the most painful of all insects, though the intense pain only lasts about five minutes. One researcher described the pain as "...immediate, excruciating, unrelenting pain that simply shuts down one's ability to do anything, except scream.
Pain Level 4 is the highest level in the Schmidt sting pain index. Schmidt's original index rated only one such example, the sting of the bullet ant, as a 4. Schmidt described the sting as "pure, intense, brilliant pain...
Human bites are often more dangerous than animal bites because the human mouth has more bacteria in it than most animals' mouths. It is very easy for a human bite to become infected. However, any bite that breaks the skin can become infected and should be treated by your healthcare provider.