---
title: "What the sources say about the Bullet Ant | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "43 claims from the Bullet Ant profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/bullet-ant-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bullet-ant/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Bullet Ant (*Paraponera clavata*)

> 43 claims from the Bullet Ant profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Bullet Ant](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bullet-ant/)

## What on Earth? The Schmidt sting pain index. Natural History Museum, London.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/scroller-schmidt-painscale/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| rated level four, the top of Schmidt's pain scale | Schmidt's pain scale runs from one to four, with four being the most painful. |
| rated level four, the top of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index | Schmidt's pain scale runs from one to four, with four being the most painful. |
| dangerLevel: Extreme | Schmidt's pain scale runs from one to four, with four being the most painful. (note: Judgment call, not a stated figure: the tier reflects the sting's top-of-scale pain rating. No source in the pack states a fatality risk, and the page claims none.) |
| Entomologist Justin Schmidt rated and described the pain of insect venoms from his own experience of being stung, on a scale that runs from one to four | Entomologist Justin Schmidt recorded his own experience of venomous stings, to rate and describe the pain caused by the venom of insects. ... Schmidt's pain scale runs from one to four, with four being the most painful. |
| The bullet ant sits at pain level four, the most painful, beside the warrior wasp and the tarantula hawk wasp | Schmidt's pain scale runs from one to four, with four being the most painful. ... Pain level 4 Warrior wasp, Synoeca septentrionalis ... Bullet ant, Paraponera clavata ... Tarantula hawk wasp, Pepsis species (note: Level four holds three species on this page, so the sentence names them rather than implying the bullet ant stands alone at the top.) |
| Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel. | Bullet ant, Paraponera clavata “Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel.” |
| a sting rated 4, the top of Schmidt's pain scale | Schmidt's pain scale runs from one to four, with four being the most painful. (note: vibe.reason (#628)) |

## Aili et al. (2020). An Integrated Proteomic and Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals the Venom Complexity of the Bullet Ant Paraponera clavata. Toxins.

https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins12050324

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| in cockroaches keeps nerve cells firing past the point where they should stop | Poneratoxin elicits neurotoxic activity in cockroaches by prolonging action potentials and generating slow repetitive activity by inducing a voltage-activated sodium channel (Na V 1.7) current with slowed inactivation at negative potentials (note: The assay scope 'in cockroaches' is kept: the source states no effect on a human nervous system.) |
| At more than two centimeters long | Paraponera clavata is a large ant species (>2 cm in length) found in the New World tropics |
| The most abundant component of that venom is poneratoxin, a molecule built from just 25 amino acids | poneratoxin, a 25-residue peptide, and the most abundant component of the venom (note: 'residue' is the standard term for an amino acid unit in a peptide chain, put in plain language.) |
| Poneratoxin is the most abundant component of bullet ant venom, a molecule built from just 25 amino acids | poneratoxin, a 25-residue peptide, and the most abundant component of the venom |
| In cockroaches it induces a current through a voltage-activated sodium channel, one of the tiny gates nerve cells use to fire electrical signals, and that current is slow to switch off: nerve impulses are prolonged and the nerve fires slowly and repeatedly | Poneratoxin elicits neurotoxic activity in cockroaches by prolonging action potentials and generating slow repetitive activity by inducing a voltage-activated sodium channel (Na V 1.7) current with slowed inactivation at negative potentials (note: NaV1.7 is a named subtype of voltage-activated sodium channel; the page keeps the source's cockroach scope and does not carry the result over to a human.) |
| Several other components of the venom remain uncharacterised | there are several other components in this venom that remain uncharacterised |
| infamous for inflicting the most painful sting among the ants, bees and wasps | the bullet ant, P. clavata, which is infamous for inflicting the most painful sting among the Hymenoptera (note: Hymenoptera is the insect order holding ants, bees and wasps.) |
| In cockroaches it induces a current through a voltage-activated sodium channel with slowed inactivation, prolonging nerve impulses and making the nerve fire slowly and repeatedly | Poneratoxin elicits neurotoxic activity in cockroaches by prolonging action potentials and generating slow repetitive activity by inducing a voltage-activated sodium channel (Na V 1.7) current with slowed inactivation at negative potentials (note: the FAQ's shorter wording of the same finding; NaV1.7 is a named subtype of voltage-activated sodium channel, and the cockroach scope is kept.) |
| a venom whose poneratoxin keeps a cockroach's nerve cells firing past the point where they should stop | Poneratoxin elicits neurotoxic activity in cockroaches by prolonging action potentials and generating slow repetitive activity by inducing a voltage-activated sodium channel (Na V 1.7) current with slowed inactivation at negative potentials (note: vibe.reason (#628)) |

## Murphy & Breed (2007). A Predictive Distribution Map for the Giant Tropical Ant, Paraponera clavata. Journal of Insect Science.

https://doi.org/10.1673/031.007.0801

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| most commonly sea level to 750 m | Collectors found P. clavata most commonly in lowland habitats, at elevations from sea level to 750 meters |
| from Nicaragua south to Bolivia and Brazil | having been collected from Nicaragua in the north to Bolivia and Brazil at its southern limit |
| the ant entomologists call the giant tropical ant | The giant tropical ant, Paraponera clavata (Fabricius 1775) (Formicidae: Paraponerinae), is one of the most visible Neotropical insects |
| Bullet ants live in lowland rainforest from Nicaragua south to Bolivia and Brazil | having been collected from Nicaragua in the north to Bolivia and Brazil at its southern limit |
| most commonly from sea level up to 750 meters | Collectors found P. clavata most commonly in lowland habitats, at elevations from sea level to 750 meters |
| Colonies typically nest in soil at the base of rainforest trees, though nests have also been reported in soil collected in tree crotches and, in at least one case, out on treeless dry tropical savanna | P. clavata typically nests in soil at the base of rainforest trees, although nests have also been reported in soil accumulations in tree crotches ... and in at least one case in treeless Campo Cerrado, dry tropical savanna interspersed with woody shrubs |
| In lowland rainforest, from Nicaragua in the north to Bolivia and Brazil at the southern limit | having been collected from Nicaragua in the north to Bolivia and Brazil at its southern limit |
| Nests are usually in soil at the base of a rainforest tree, though they have also been reported in soil collected in tree crotches, and in at least one case out on treeless dry tropical savanna | P. clavata typically nests in soil at the base of rainforest trees, although nests have also been reported in soil accumulations in tree crotches ... and in at least one case in treeless Campo Cerrado, dry tropical savanna interspersed with woody shrubs |

## Haddad Junior, Cardoso & Moraes (2005). Description of an injury in a human caused by a false tocandira (Dinoponera gigantea, Perty, 1833) with a revision on folkloric, pharmacological and clinical aspects of the giant ants of the genera Paraponera and Dinoponera (sub-family Ponerinae). Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo.

https://doi.org/10.1590/s0036-46652005000400012

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| one of the giant ants known in Brazil as the twenty-four-hour ants | THE GIANT ANTS OF THE GENERA Paraponera AND Dinoponera ... like the tocandiras (tucandeiras, cabo-verde ants, vinte e cuatro horas ants or bullet ants) which are capable to apply extremely painful stings (note: Group scope, kept in the text: the source lists 'vinte e cuatro horas ants' (Portuguese for twenty-four-hour ants) as one of several names for the tocandiras, the giant ponerine ants of the genera Paraponera and Dinoponera, and names 'bullet ants' as another name for the same group. The paper is Brazilian and says the group is 'present in the whole country'. The source spells the Spanish 'cuatro'.) |
| In Brazil the bullet ant is the true tocandira | They are present in the whole country and the most important species are Paraponera clavata (the true Tocandira) |
| one of a group of stinging ants known there as the twenty-four-hour ants | like the tocandiras (tucandeiras, cabo-verde ants, vinte e cuatro horas ants or bullet ants) which are capable to apply extremely painful stings (note: The name is the group's, not this species' alone, and the sentence says so.) |
| Pain is the main symptom of a tocandira sting, extremely violent and capable of staying for periods of up to 24 hours | The pain, however, is the main symptom and characteristic of the sting, being extremely violent and capable of staying for periods of up to 24 hours (note: Group scope: the sentence is the paper's description of a tocandira sting (Paraponera and Dinoponera), not of the Dinoponera gigantea case report, and not of P. clavata alone. The page names the group as the subject.) |
| These are not aggressive ants, but they are vicious defending the nest, making a stridulating sound and stinging with ferocity | They are not aggressive ants, but are vicious when defending the nest, when they do a stridulating sound and sting with ferocity (note: Group scope: 'These' refers to the tocandiras named in the two sentences before it, which is the source's subject (the ponerine ants of both genera).) |
| The Sateré-Mawé of the Brazilian Amazon use the tocandiras, especially this species, in rituals of passage to adult age | The tocandiras, especially the Amazonian specie Paraponera clavata (Fabricius, 1775) (Fig. 1) are used in rituals of passage for adult age in Sateré-Mawé, a tribe of near 7000 Amazonian Indians |
| Children from about the age of 12 put a hand inside a glove of liana | The children starting from the 12 years put the hand in a type of liana glove |
| holding up to 300 ants | They are put up to 300 ants in the glove for the pain resistance test to the stings. (note: Figure 2's caption, describing the same ceremonial glove as the body text.) |
| for close to 30 minutes | with a great number of tocandiras for a period of near 30 minutes |
| A young person who withstands the pain can go on to hold leadership positions in the tribe | The young Indian that supports the pain can exercise leadership positions in the tribe. |
| tradition has them pass through the ritual 25 times over a lifetime to be respected by the oldest | During the life the Indian has to pass for the ritual 25 times to be respected by the oldest |
| Rituals of passage to adult age among the Sateré-Mawé of the Brazilian Amazon use the tocandiras, especially this species | The tocandiras, especially the Amazonian specie Paraponera clavata (Fabricius, 1775) (Fig. 1) are used in rituals of passage for adult age in Sateré-Mawé, a tribe of near 7000 Amazonian Indians (note: the same sentence as the body's, reordered; the group scope (tocandiras) and the source's 'especially' are kept.) |
| A young person who withstands the pain can hold leadership positions in the tribe | The young Indian that supports the pain can exercise leadership positions in the tribe. |
| tradition has them pass through the ritual 25 times to be respected by the oldest | During the life the Indian has to pass for the ritual 25 times to be respected by the oldest |

## Fewell et al. (1996). Foraging energetics of the ant, Paraponera clavata. Oecologia.

https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00330003

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Nectar and insect prey | The B/C ratio was 3.9 for nectar-foragers and 67 for insect prey foragers (note: stats.diet: the abstract's two forager roles are the basis for naming nectar and insect prey.) |
| Some workers forage for nectar and others carry back insect prey | The B/C ratio was 3.9 for nectar-foragers and 67 for insect prey foragers (note: The abstract measures two forager roles in this species; the page names the roles and no figure from them.) |

## Dyer & Floyd (1993). Determinants of predation on phytophagous insects: the importance of diet breadth. Oecologia.

https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00320516

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| caterpillars, taken selectively | we offered lepidopteran larvae to colonies of the tropical ant Paraponera clavata ... Late instar caterpillars were rejected more frequently than early instars, hairy caterpillars were rejected more frequently than caterpillars with other morphologies |
| offered caterpillars, they reject hairy ones more often than caterpillars of other shapes, and late-stage larvae more often than early ones | Late instar caterpillars were rejected more frequently than early instars, hairy caterpillars were rejected more frequently than caterpillars with other morphologies (note: 'late instar' and 'early instar' are put as late-stage and early larvae; the source's comparison is rejection frequency, which the page keeps.) |

## Fewell et al. (1992). Distance effects on resource profitability and recruitment in the giant tropical ant, Paraponera clavata. Oecologia.

https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00317846

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Offered nectar far from home, foragers recruit help from the canopy rather than from the nest, and often hand the nectar to other workers to carry back, which cuts the time the colony needs to collect it | Foragers at distant sites recruited from the canopy rather than from the nest, and often transferred nectar to other workers for transport to the nest. Nectar transfer and extra-nidal recruitment significantly reduced the time required for resource collection. |