Workers are usually about 18–30 mm long; queens are similar in general body form and only moderately larger.
Fine-art photographic collection
Paraponera clavata
A giant rainforest forager linking a ground nest to the canopy above.
About this species
Bullet ant
Paraponera clavata(Fabricius, 1775)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Paraponera clavata is one of the largest living ants. Colonies usually nest in soil at the base of a tree, while workers climb trunks and forage through the canopy for nectar and animal food. The species is famous for its powerful defensive sting, but its ecology is equally remarkable.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Formicidae · Paraponerinae · Paraponerini · Paraponera
Accepted · checked 2026-07-15
Central America to the Amazon basinBroad documented localities — not a complete range map.
Humid tropical regions from southern Central America through northern and central South America into the Amazon basin.
Lowland rainforest and wet tropical forest, usually nesting in soil beside or between the buttress roots of a tree.
Workers forage individually from the forest floor into the canopy and can be active both day and night, depending on local conditions.
Nectar and other sugary plant liquids, together with captured or scavenged arthropods carried back for larvae.
Generally a single queen with roughly 1,000–2,500 relatively uniform workers in a ground nest connected to canopy foraging routes.
What makes this species remarkable?
Workers repeatedly commute between a subterranean nest and food sources high in the canopy, using learned orientation cues.
Unlike highly polymorphic leafcutters, workers are comparatively similar in size, with tasks changing more through experience and age.
Its sting is a defensive adaptation delivered by a very large worker and is consistently ranked among the most painful insect stings reported by humans.
More photographs
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