Reaper ants: these little ones sting 20 times more painfully than a bee, and there are a whole swarm of them! (9 photos)

Thanks to this ant, the concept of the "Pain Scale" appeared among insects. Just imagine: their sting is 20 (!) times more painful than a bee! Their venom can actually kill! Meet the most toxic bug in the world: the harvester ant.





— Mom, I have a 4 on the pain scale! — Why not a 5?! — So only 4 points! — That's not an excuse!

These creatures live where they are supposed to. In hell. Not literally, but figuratively: their home is the scorching sands and wild wastelands of North America. Ants have learned to withstand high temperatures and coordinate their schedule with the scorching heat.



Ants feed on whatever the desert throws at them: seeds, plants, carrion, or still-living prey.

It can be difficult to spot the most dangerous among the other 14,000 species of ants, so here's a working diagram. Reapers are small, about the size of a common garden ant, but they are always bright red and very thin.





The name of this ant is difficult to translate. In English-language sources, the species we are talking about is called harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex maricopa). But in our environment, the name harvester ant is borne by other insects - the genus Messor. They live all over the Old World and are absolutely safe!

On their heads, they have huge mandibles, which look creepy enough, but the main weapon of the reapers is located on the other side. At the end of the abdomen, all workers have a poisonous gland and a sharp sting.



In order to properly stab the enemy, the ant fixes itself with its mandibles.

Among the crowd of insects, there is only one calm individual - the queen. All the other inhabitants of the anthill are evil guards, fiercely protecting their ruler and the palace. By the way, it is a palace! Evil insects build a real impregnable fortress up to 2 meters high and up to 7 meters in diameter.



Bow down before Her Majesty! Yes, you, behind the screen, this applies to you too.

This is not like making Easter cakes out of sand and sticks: to keep the anthill from falling apart, the reapers pull calcium out of the depths of the earth and "cement" the walls of the house. So that from the outside it can easily be mistaken for a large stone. Only inside is a filling of thousands of evil insects!



Yes, this rock is an anthill.

The toxicity of the harvester ant's venom is comparable to a cobra bite, with the only difference being that the insect injects significantly less venom at a time. The lethality of the harvester ant's venom is 0.12 mg/kg - that's about 12 stings, and a healthy rat will go to his forefathers. By the way, that's what the venom is aimed at. A huge anthill with a bunch of food supplies inside is the ultimate dream of a small rodent. To prevent the capture of their kingdom, ants evolved into a killing machine!



Let me out! I'll give you such a thrashing, you won't know what hit you!

By the way, if you were careless enough to disturb one ant, the whole army will immediately rush at you! Because in addition to toxic proteins, their poison contains an "alarm pheromone." And when one reaper starts to sting, all the others hear this scent and run to help. So, if you've already been bitten, get out of there quickly before everyone comes running!



A case where one in the field is also a warrior.

The poison is also dangerous for humans. 4 out of 4 on the pain scale is VERY PAINFUL! The poison quickly penetrates the tissue at the site of the bite and targets the nerve endings. Because of this, the victim's suffering can last up to 8 hours! Moreover, if there were too many toxins, they rise to the central nervous system and affect the brain. Roughly speaking, if you were bitten by a pack of reapers, you will not only be in unbearable pain, you will also begin to hallucinate.



There are advantages - the reaper's sting is quite thin and cannot always pierce the skin on the palms, for example.

But people would not be people if they did not use the hallucinogenic properties of ants! Local tribes used insects in all sorts of rituals. The most interesting ones involved eating live ants and subsequent communication with the spirits of ancestors. If you're lucky, it will just be a bad trip. If not, the meeting can take place in person.