What insect is way too big, lives in colonies of thousands of individuals and screams at you before delivering one of the most painful stings in the animal kingdom? Let’s meet the bullet ant.
The bullet ant (Paraponera clavate) is also known as the bullet ant in Spanish, hormiga bala. Why are people across two languages calling this insect a bullet ant? Because it has the power to deliver a sting so painful that it feels like you’ve been shot.
Let’s talk about this sting. There’s a guy named Justin O. Schmidt, an entomologist, who created something called the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, which is a pain scale that rates just how horrible stings from different insects feel. The bullet ant is right up near the top, accompanied by the tarantula hawk (a species we can discuss another day). He describes the bullet ant’s sting as “pure, intense, brilliant pain…like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel.” That sounds just awful.
As if eliciting ‘pure, intense, brilliant pain’ isn’t enough, the bullet ant adds to its fearsome reputation by being way too big and shrieking at you before stinging you. It’s usually hard to describe a 1-inch animal as being imposing, but when it’s an ant, 1-inch is just too big. To accompany its bulk, the bullet ant comes complete with abdominal stridulatory organs. These are sound producing organs that the ant vibrates when it’s ticked off, creating a shrieky/chirpy/squeaky noise, that I’ll admit wouldn’t be particularly scary if they weren’t coming from such a frightening beast.
I had a recent run-in with these formidable insects, which prompted me to write this article. Just a few days ago, I was trekking through the humid jungle around Rincón de la Vieja with my friend Josué Castro. We were searching for the perfect locations to place a few camera traps. I had snakes on the mind, so I was being very careful of what I was touching and where I was putting my feet. As I stepped over the first of a series of logs that were crisscrossed at what could be best described as ‘just-able-to-hop-over level’ above the ground, there was a huge dark ant walking across the log towards me.
I called back to Josué, “Hey! I found a bullet ant!”
Josué, just a few steps behind, caught up and took the opportunity to take out his phone and record a quick video. As he was preparing to record, the ant started producing a shrieking sound that I now know is called stridulation. We both marveled at the noise. Just as Josué started recording I thought to myself ‘Wow, that’s a seriously loud noise coming from just one ant.’ At the same moment that this thought was crossing my mind, I looked over at Josué’s feet and saw dozens of screaming bullet ants boiling up from the leaflitter around his black rubber boots.
My heartrate spiked and if you asked me what I said, I would have guessed it was something like, “Aaahhhh! You’re covered in bullet ants! RUN!”
As it turns out, Josué had pushed record just a few seconds before I spoke, so you’ll hear in the video below that I sound pretty darn calm and say, “Careful! They’re all around you! Careful!” At which point we both sprint away and quickly check each other’s clothing to try to remove any ants before one of us got ‘shot.’
After a few minutes, our heartrates returned to normal, we took a loop around the bullet ant nest and went on our way. As I continued through the jungle I thought, ‘I’m going to tell the good people that read the Tico Times about this.’
Meet the Bullet Ant
What insect is way too big, lives in colonies of thousands of individuals and screams at you before delivering one of the most painful stings in the animal kingdom? Let’s meet the bullet ant.
The bullet ant (Paraponera clavate) is also known as the bullet ant in Spanish, hormiga bala. Why are people across two languages calling this insect a bullet ant? Because it has the power to deliver a sting so painful that it feels like you’ve been shot.
Let’s talk about this sting. There’s a guy named Justin O. Schmidt, an entomologist, who created something called the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, which is a pain scale that rates just how horrible stings from different insects feel. The bullet ant is right up near the top, accompanied by the tarantula hawk (a species we can discuss another day). He describes the bullet ant’s sting as “pure, intense, brilliant pain…like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel.” That sounds just awful.
As if eliciting ‘pure, intense, brilliant pain’ isn’t enough, the bullet ant adds to its fearsome reputation by being way too big and shrieking at you before stinging you. It’s usually hard to describe a 1-inch animal as being imposing, but when it’s an ant, 1-inch is just too big. To accompany its bulk, the bullet ant comes complete with abdominal stridulatory organs. These are sound producing organs that the ant vibrates when it’s ticked off, creating a shrieky/chirpy/squeaky noise, that I’ll admit wouldn’t be particularly scary if they weren’t coming from such a frightening beast.
I had a recent run-in with these formidable insects, which prompted me to write this article. Just a few days ago, I was trekking through the humid jungle around Ricón de la Vieja with my friend Josué Castro. We were searching for the perfect locations to place a few camera traps.
I had snakes on the mind, so I was being very careful of what I was touching and where I was putting my feet. As I stepped over the first of a series of logs that were crisscrossed at what could be best described as ‘just-able-to-hop-over level’ above the ground, there was a huge dark ant walking across the log towards me.
I called back to Josué, “Hey! I found a bullet ant!”
Josué, just a few steps behind, caught up and took the opportunity to take out his phone and record a quick video. As he was preparing to record, the ant started producing a shrieking sound that I now know is called stridulation. We both marveled at the noise. Just as Josué started recording I thought to myself ‘Wow, that’s a seriously loud noise coming from just one ant.’ At the same moment that this thought was crossing my mind, I looked over at Josué’s feet and saw dozens of screaming bullet ants boiling up from the leaflitter around his black rubber boots.
My heartrate spiked and if you asked me what I said, I would have guessed it was something like, “Aaahhhh! You’re covered in bullet ants! RUN!”
As it turns out, Josué had pushed record just a few seconds before I spoke, so you’ll hear in the video below that I sound pretty darn calm and say, “Careful! They’re all around you! Careful!” At which point we both sprint away and quickly check each other’s clothing to try to remove any ants before one of us got ‘shot.’
After a few minutes, our heartrates returned to normal, we took a loop around the bullet ant nest and went on our way. As I continued through the jungle I thought, ‘I’m going to tell the good people that read the Tico Times about this.
About the Author
Vincent Losasso, founder of Guanacaste Wildlife Monitoring, is a biologist who works with camera traps throughout Costa Rica. Learn more about his projects on facebook or instagram. You can also email him at: vincent@guanacastewildlifemonitoring.com
