Paraponera clavata   (Fabricius 1775)
Known commonly as the "Bala Ant" (Bullet Ant) on account of its large size and extremely painful sting, workers of this species are arboreal and forage at all levels of the canopy. For the most part they are active at night, using pheromones to guide other members of the colony to important food sources. Walkers in the forest are occasionally bitten by ants which fall from the tree-tops and react by immediately biting the substrate on which they land. Nests are subterranean at the base of trees or occsasionally in humus accumulations in the canopy. The nest is defended aggressively. Workers forage on live prey, but also make use of nectar stores, showing an impressive capacity for learning in exploiting these temporary resources. They occasionally form relationships with plants. Males are frequent at blacklights. There is a growing literature of behavioral and ecological studies of Paraponera.
Distribution in Paraguay: Amambay
REFERENCES
Lattke JE 2003 - Subfamilia Ponerinae in Introducción a las Hormigas de la Région Neotropical - Von Humboldt Institute, Bogota, Colombia.
Longino JT - Paraponera clavata www.antweb.org
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Ant Web Specimen Code: CASENT0006789
Locality: COSTA RICA: Heredia: La Selva Biol. Sta.; 10°25'00"N 084°01'00"W 50 m
Collection codes: BLF11917 Collected by: B.L.Fisher Date:  3 Mar 2005
Habitat: Tropical rainforest
Method: on low vegetation
Located at: ATOL voucher CASC Owned by: CASC
Life Stage: 1w
Credit: April Nobile www.antweb.org