第 1000 號，共 1 402 號

Bullet ant

Paraponera clavata

名字的由來： The species name clavata means "club-shaped", and the genus name Paraponera translates to "near-Ponera".1

只是會痛會痛，但不會對你造成嚴重傷害。

螞蟻

螫吃：每樣都來一點

對人的危險: 疼痛可能會非常痛，但幾乎從來不會很嚴重。

The bullet ant is a large rainforest ant with a sting that is famously painful. It lives in humid lowland rainforests in Central and South America. Its sting ranks as the most painful of all insect stings on one informal pain scale.1

分布在

Central and South America, from Honduras and El Salvador south to Brazil and Bolivia1

北美洲, 南美洲

首頁

Colonies of several hundred ants are usually built at the bases of trees in humid lowland rainforest. Workers forage up into the tree canopy, often as high as the upper canopy, and little foraging happens on the forest floor.1

長度

1,8 cm 到 3 cm (0,7 in 到 1,2 in)1

最高速度

大約 0,35 km/h（0,22 mph）

在陸地上, 粗略估計

牠吃什麼？

Workers forage in the trees for small arthropods (small invertebrates) and nectar. Nectar, carried between the mandibles (jaws), is the most common food brought back to the nest.1

Bullet ant 的照片 — Bullet ant。照片：unknown。 CC0, iNaturalist.

怎麼認出牠

Worker ants are 18–30 mm long1
They are stout and reddish-black1
They are wingless and look like wasps1
They produce a stridulating (rasping) sound when defending the nest1

毒液力量

螫

毒液從螫針出來。

牠的毒液有什麼作用？

The sting delivers poneratoxin, a paralysing neurotoxic peptide (a small protein that attacks the nerves). It affects sodium ion channels, which are needed to send nerve signals, and blocks signal transmission in the central nervous system. Common symptoms from even one sting include swollen lymph nodes, swelling (oedema), a fast heartbeat (tachycardia) and fresh blood in the faeces.1

牠對人有多危險？

對人的危險: 疼痛可能會非常痛，但幾乎從來不會很嚴重。

The pain is described as burning, throbbing and all-consuming, and it can last for up to 24 hours. Workers are vicious when defending the nest, so people who disturb a nest risk being stung.1

牠害怕時會做什麼？

The ants are not aggressive in general, but they defend the nest viciously, producing a stridulating sound and stinging with ferocity.1

如果牠螫人

清洗並冷敷螫傷處。
如果傷者呼吸困難、臉部或喉嚨腫脹，或覺得快要昏倒，這就是過敏急症：打緊急電話。

一定要先打緊急電話（112、000、911）。這是一般急救指引，不是醫療建議。急救基本知識

注意安全

絕對不要碰、抓或捉弄野生動物，就算是很小的動物，就算牠看起來在睡覺或已經死了也一樣。
給牠空間。如果遇到了，保持冷靜，慢慢往後退，讓牠自己離開。
如果被牠螫了：保持冷靜，保持不動，打緊急電話（112、000、911）或趕快去醫院。記住牠的樣子，有照片會很有幫助。

牠不是想來抓你。牠用毒液來捕捉食物或保護自己，而且牠更想躲起來。更多安全知識

在世界上的哪裡？

非洲亞洲歐洲北美洲南美洲澳洲與大洋洲

牠有多大？

牠有多長？

大約跟一根迴紋針一樣長

Bullet ant 跟「你」比起來有多大？

只是在你的瀏覽器裡做算術。什麼都不會儲存，也不會傳送到任何地方。

牠有多快？

一隻陸龜 大約 0,3 km/h (0,19 mph)

Bullet ant 大約 0,35 km/h (0,22 mph)

一個正在走路的人 大約 5 km/h (3,1 mph)

值得知道

小知識

Its sting is compared to walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail in your heel, and some victims say it feels like being shot, which gives the ant its name.1

The Sateré-Mawé people of Brazil use bullet ant stings in initiation rites for becoming warriors or leaders. Ants are sedated and woven into gloves, and the initiate wears them for 5 to 10 minutes or longer.1

A flying fly parasite, Apocephalus paraponerae, lays eggs in injured bullet ants, and a crushed ant can attract flies within two to three minutes.1

Poneratoxin from its venom is being investigated for possible medical uses.1

The glasswing butterfly, Greta oto, is a predator of the bullet ant. Its larvae make chemical extracts that these ants find unpalatable.1

Fossils of relatives were found in Dominican amber. The extinct Paraponera dieteri lived 15 to 45 million years ago in the Early Miocene.1