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In the case of fire ants, the venom consists mainly of alkaloid (>95%) and protein (<1%) components. [2] Stinging ants cause a cutaneous condition that is different from that caused by biting venomous ants. Particularly painful are stings from fire ants, although the bullet ant's sting is considered by some to be the most painful insect sting.
They have 10 segments in their antennae, which end in large segmented clubs. Thief ants possess small stingers on their oblong abdomens. Worker ants have large jaws for carrying food, usually other ants' brood, back to the colony. [citation needed] The larvae of thief ants have been described from the Brazilian species Solenopsis helena. [2]
It has been referred to as the "panda ant" due to its coloration, consisting of a white coat covering all of its head except the eyes, and black and white spots appearing over the rest of its body. The coloration is aposematic , serving as a warning to predators of its painful and powerful sting.
The pavement ant is dark brown to blackish, and 2.5–4 millimeters (0.10–0.16 in) long. A colony is composed of workers, alates, and a queen. Workers do have a small stinger, which can cause mild discomfort in humans but is essentially harmless. Alates, or new queen ants and drones, have wings, and are at least twice as large as the workers ...
[227] [228] Unlike in honeybees, the sting lacks barbs, and so the stinger is not left in the area the ant has stung, allowing the ants to sting repeatedly without any harm to themselves. [229] The retractable sting is located in their abdomen, attached to a single venom gland connected by the venom sac, which is where the venom is accumulated.
The treatment uses the entire body of the ant and not just the venom, and unlike fire ant venom immunotherapy (which is occasionally used), WBE contains venom proteins. [ 59 ] [ 56 ] To reduce a patient's sensitivity to the venom, gradual increases of dose extracts are injected into the body. [ 60 ]
Along with a few other Pogonomyrmex species, badius workers exhibit stinger autotomy in which the barbed stinger and venom sac is left embedded in the skin to continuously pump venom. The cost of this autotomy is the demise of the ant due to the internal damage from the stinger being pulled out, much like in honey bees .
The jack jumper ant (Myrmecia pilosula), also known as the jack jumper, jumping jack, hopper ant, or jumper ant, is a species of venomous ant native to Australia.Most frequently found in Tasmania and southeast mainland Australia, it is a member of the genus Myrmecia, subfamily Myrmeciinae, and was formally described and named by British entomologist Frederick Smith in 1858.