第 1000 号，共 1 402 张

Bullet ant

Paraponera clavata

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

只是会疼会疼，但不会对你造成严重伤害。

蚂蚁

蜇伤吃：什么都来一点

对人的危险: 很疼可能真的很疼，但几乎从不严重。

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

生活在

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

北美洲, 南美洲

首页

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

长度

1.8 cm到3 cm (0.7 in到1.2 in)1

最高速度

约 0.35 公里/小时（0.22 英里/小时）

在陆地上, 粗略估计

它吃什么？

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.

怎样认出它

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

毒液之力

蜇伤

毒液通过蜇刺出来。

它的毒液会造成什么？

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

它对人有多危险？

对人的危险: 很疼可能真的很疼，但几乎从不严重。

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

它害怕时会做什么？

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

如果它蜇人

清洗并冷敷蜇伤处。
如果这个人呼吸困难、脸或喉咙肿胀，或感觉要晕倒，这是过敏急症：拨打急救电话。

一定先拨打你的急救电话（112、000、911）。这里是一般急救指导，不是医疗建议。急救基础

注意安全

永远不要摸、抓或逗弄野生动物，即使是很小的，即使它看起来在睡觉或已经死了。
给它留出空间。如果遇到它，保持冷静，慢慢后退，让它走自己的路。
如果被它蜇了：保持冷静，保持不动，拨打你的急救电话（112、000、911）或尽快去医院。记住它长什么样，拍张照片会有帮助。

它不是冲着你来的。它用毒液捕猎或保护自己，而且它更愿意躲起来。更多安全知识

在世界哪里？

非洲亚洲欧洲北美洲南美洲澳大利亚和大洋洲

它有多大？

它有多长？

差不多和一个回形针一样长

Bullet ant和你比起来有多大？

只是在你的浏览器里算一算。什么都不会被保存或发送到任何地方。

它有多快？

一只陆龟 约 0.3 公里/小时 (0.19 mph)

Bullet ant 约 0.35 公里/小时 (0.22 mph)

一个在走路的人 约 5 公里/小时 (3.1 mph)

值得了解

事实

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