Bullet and greenhead ants produce toxins they inject with every sting, which prolong nerve signals to the brain and lead to trembling, uncontrollable and long-lasting pain in mammals.
Ants that inflict the world's most painful stings do so by injecting venom that targets their victim's nerve cells, new research has found.
In his 2016 book"The Sting of the Wild" , entomologist Justin O. Schmidt described being stung by a bullet ant as"pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch [8 centimeters] nail embedded in your heel.
Greenhead and bullet ants produce toxins that bind to mammalian nerve cells when they sting. Researchers already knew bullet ants produce a substance targeting nerves called poneratoxin, but it remained unclear how this substance produced such intense and long-lasting pain. These channels regulate how much sodium enters and exits cells, which determines the length and strength of pain signals, supporting neurological and muscle function in animals. Many venomous animals have evolved toxins that target sodium channels, including some scorpions, such as the yellow fat-tailed scorpion . —Trap-jaw ants' lightning-fast bite should rip their heads apart. Here's why it doesn't.
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