US researchers recorded in slow motion the moment when the ants stung their victims, piercing them with their lancet and injecting them with poison.
The registry confirmed that what causes pain is not the bite, but that it is the poison that they inject their victim through a small lancet located between their tongs.
The video was the first record taken so closely in the tiny animals, capturing two specific species, the “trap-jaw” (Odontomachus ruginodis) and “Florida harvesters” (Pogonomyrex badius) ants.
In order to record the moment, the biologist Adrian Smith of the Natural Sciences Museum of North Carolina used a thin wax film to get through with his sting.
Ants’ lancets are even thinner than a human hair. After stinging your target, move your abdomen forward to return the lancets to their original site.
It is important to note that not all species of ants have lancets, characteristic inherited from bees.
According to the journal Science, “the video reveals that ants can insert up to 13 drops of poison per second, an important skill considering that they may have only one moment to sting their prey or predators.”
