page_title: Paraponera clavata
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Paraponera clavata / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: A photograph of three individuals of Paraponera clavata (Bullet ant) photographed in the Barro Colorado Nature Monument, Panama. A scale bar is provided which is 2cm long and the coin in the photograph is a British two pence coin.
context_page_description: Paraponera clavata is a species of ant, commonly known as the bullet ant, named for its extremely potent sting. It inhabits humid lowland rainforests from Nicaragua and the extreme east of Honduras and south to Paraguay.
context_section_description: Worker ants are 18–30 mm (0.7–1.2 in) long and resemble stout, reddish-black, wingless wasps. Paraponera is predatory, and like all primitive poneromorphs, does not display polymorphism in the worker caste; the queen ant is not much larger than the workers. They are not aggressive ants but are vicious when defending the nest, when they produce a stridulating sound and sting with ferocity.
caption: Photograph demonstrating the size of bullet ants, with a 2-cm scale bar
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