第 1015 號，共 1 402 號

Western harvester ant

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

名字的由來： "Occidentalis" means "of the west", because the ant is characteristic of the interior of the Western United States. "Harvester" refers to its habit of collecting edible seeds.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 western harvester ant is a species of ant that lives in the dry deserts and grasslands of the American West and Canada. It gets its name from collecting seeds to eat. It has a painful, venomous sting, and large colonies can damage grazing land.1

分布在

Deserts and arid grasslands of the American West and Canada, at or below 1,900 m (6,300 ft)1

北美洲

首頁

Deserts and arid grasslands. Its nest mounds of gravel, surrounded by bare ground, are a conspicuous feature of rangeland, so people are most likely to see them there.1

長度

6 mm (0,2 in)1

最高速度

大約 0,15 km/h（0,09 mph）

在陸地上, 粗略估計

牠吃什麼？

Workers harvest seeds and pollen directly from plants and gather fallen seeds. They also gather newly dead insects. Some seeds are stored in chambers within the nest.1

Western harvester ant 的照片 — Western harvester ant。照片：Ken-ichi Ueda。 CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist.

怎麼認出牠

Workers are usually dark red.1
Workers in a mature colony average 6 mm long.1
The nest is topped by an irregularly conical mound of gravel, which can be more than 89 cm (35 in) across.1
The mound is surrounded by an area with no plant life.1

毒液力量

螫

毒液從螫針出來。

牠的毒液有什麼作用？

The sting is venomous and painful.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。

Its sting is painful. Where there are many colonies, they can cause such loss of grazing plants and seeds that they are a severe ecological and economic burden.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？

小到可以坐在你的指甲上

Western harvester 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？

一隻花園蝸牛 大約 0,05 km/h (0,03 mph)

Western harvester ant 大約 0,15 km/h (0,09 mph)

一隻陸龜 大約 0,3 km/h (0,19 mph)

值得知道

小知識

Mounds are surrounded by bare ground, so they do not burn during fires.1

A mature colony can have up to 20,000 workers and one queen, and its nest can reach 5 metres (16 ft) deep.1

Honey ants (Myrmecocystus mexicanus) often nest close to western harvester ant colonies and feed on dead or dying workers.1

A queen mates with 2 to 11 different males, with an average of 6.3.1

Workers usually change their jobs as they age, and they forage towards the ends of their lives. A worker lives for an average of six months.1

In cooler months, workers forage throughout the day. In summer they forage only from 5–11 am and 3–9 pm.1

給毒液專家

學名: Pogonomyrmex occidentalis
類群: 螞蟻
家人: Formicidae2
排序: Hymenoptera
各大洲: 北美洲
寶寶: The queen lays eggs, and many of the eggs in the first batch die. The first workers, called nanitics, are stunted and measure about 2 mm long.1
壽命: 大約 30 年1
對人的危險: 2 / 5: 疼痛3