Bullet Ant -Paraponera Clavata- SET

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snic320
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Bullet Ant -Paraponera Clavata- SET

Post by snic320 »

Paraponera is a genus of ant consisting of a single species, commonly known as the lesser giant hunting ant,conga ant, or bullet ant (Paraponera clavata), named on account of its powerful and potent sting, which is said to be as painful as being shot with a bullet. It inhabits humid lowland rainforests from Nicaragua south to Paraguay. The bullet ant is called "Hormiga Veinticuatro" or "24 (hour) ant" by the locals, referring to the 24 hours of pain that follow being stung

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Paraponera Clavata -Bullet Ant- por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr

Sting

The pain caused by this insect's sting is known to be greater than that of any other Hymenopteran, and is ranked as the most painful according to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, given a "4+" rating, above the tarantula hawk wasp.

Image
Aguijón Close por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr

It is described as causing "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours". It is thought that the ant has evolved this way to ward off any predators who would normally unearth them....a paralyzing neurotoxic peptide isolated from the venom is poneratoxin, it affects voltage-dependent sodium ion channels and blocks the synaptic transmission in the insect central nervous system.

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Aguijón por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr


Initiation rites

The Satere-Mawe people of Brazil use intentional bullet ant stings as part of their initiation rites to become a warrior.The ants are first rendered unconscious by submerging them in a natural sedative and then hundreds of them are woven into a glove made out of leaves (which resembles a large oven mitt), stinger facing inward. When the ants regain consciousness, a boy slips the glove onto his hand. The goal of this initiation rite is to keep the glove on for a full ten minutes. When finished, the boy's hand and part of his arm are temporarily paralyzed because of the ant venom, and he may shake uncontrollably for days. The only "protection" provided is a coating of charcoal on the hands, supposedly to confuse the ants and inhibit their stinging. To fully complete the initiation, however, the boys must go through the ordeal a total of 20 times over the course of several months or even years...

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Bullet ant por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr

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Bullet Ant por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr

Hope you like it...took special effort to celebrate so many visits to my Flickr account :wink:

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2011-12-14-21.08 por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr

***Updated with 2 more pics, another fullbody and the eye detail***
Remember all pics are drastically reduced in size for flickr...

Have Fun!
Last edited by snic320 on Sun Dec 18, 2011 8:18 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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ChrisLilley
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Post by ChrisLilley »

Excellent photos, made all the more enjoyable by the clearly described and fascinating background information. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain this. Looks like you had a great trip!
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abpho
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Re: Bullet Ant !

Post by abpho »

Awesome shots. What did you use to create the reflection. The last image is pretty cool.
snic320 wrote:... however, the boys must go through the ordeal a total of 20 times over the course of several months or even years...
Can you say CRAZY!!
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DQE
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Post by DQE »

Amazing photos, and an amazing saga! I especially enjoyed the photos with the reflections.

Well beyond my modest ambition to take some viewable macro photos of the bugs in my home garden!!
-Phil

"Diffraction never sleeps"
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phytoplankton
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Post by phytoplankton »

I can't even think of the proper terms to articulate how much I like this set of photos. I keep coming back just to stare at them, especially the first.
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Cactusdave
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Post by Cactusdave »

Great photomacrography. Some of those images are mind boggling quality. That is one serious 'don't mess with me' ant. :shock:
Leitz Ortholux 1, Zeiss standard, Nikon Diaphot inverted, Canon photographic gear
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snic320
Posts: 118
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 8:54 am

Post by snic320 »

Cactusdave wrote:Great photomacrography. Some of those images are mind boggling quality. That is one serious 'don't mess with me' ant. :shock:
phytoplankton wrote:I can't even think of the proper terms to articulate how much I like this set of photos. I keep coming back just to stare at them, especially the first.
DQE wrote:Amazing photos, and an amazing saga! I especially enjoyed the photos with the reflections.

Well beyond my modest ambition to take some viewable macro photos of the bugs in my home garden!!
abpho wrote:Awesome shots. What did you use to create the reflection. The last image is pretty cool.
snic320 wrote:... however, the boys must go through the ordeal a total of 20 times over the course of several months or even years...
Can you say CRAZY!!
ChrisLilley wrote:Excellent photos, made all the more enjoyable by the clearly described and fascinating background information. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain this. Looks like you had a great trip!
Spent some hours with this set so Im really glad you like them! :wink:
Wish you all Merry Christmas Macro/Micro nuts out there !!!
:D
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lauriek
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Post by lauriek »

Sweet set! :D
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larrynicks
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Post by larrynicks »

Looks like being bitten by this guy would be bad enough, not to mention the sting. :smt088

Excellent images.
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rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

These are amazing images!

I am intrigued by the reflections seen in image #1 and #4. The first one I can understand as the ant sitting on a mirror, the whole thing shot as a focus stack for DOF. But #4 has me puzzled. The reflection looks like rippled water but that's not consistent with focus stacking which also appears to have been done.

Can you explain how these images were shot?

Many thanks,
--Rik
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dbur
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Post by dbur »

#4 looks like a double reflection off both surfaces of a pane of glass.
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snic320
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Post by snic320 »

rjlittlefield wrote:These are amazing images!

I am intrigued by the reflections seen in image #1 and #4. The first one I can understand as the ant sitting on a mirror, the whole thing shot as a focus stack for DOF. But #4 has me puzzled. The reflection looks like rippled water but that's not consistent with focus stacking which also appears to have been done.

Can you explain how these images were shot?

Many thanks,
--Rik
Yes, sure...
Well, after watching some youtube tutorials about creating water reflections I decided to give it a shot, but mixing things a bit...., instead of creating the reflection totally from the same image, I decided to make the stack with a real reflection using a mirror....
Then the only thing I added was the rippled water effect as you said...creating some sort of small waves with the pinch photoshop tool...that´s it !

In the next picture I also used the mirror but when finished I really didnt find the need to add the waves.....it came out this way!

Image
The Sailor...(amazon ant 6.1) por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr

I´m really glad you liked it :D
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madmacro
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Location: Central Singapore

Amazing.

Post by madmacro »

Wow very nicely taken, good lighting as well.
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