Ant Stings Can Be Painful

Bull ants

Bull ants (also known as bulldog ants, jumper ants, or jack jumpers) are large, for an ant. Some species can reach a length of 4 centimetres. They are easily recognisable with their large eyes, long mandibles (jaws) and aggressive nature.

Their sting is immediate, hot, sharp, and unmistakable, not dissimilar to that of a honeybee. The intense pain will last only a few minutes, before it’s replaced by some redness and swelling around the sting site.

Green-head ants

Green-head ants are also called green ants (but not to be confused with the green tree ants of northern Australia which do not sting). Green-head ants are common, and love our grass lawns.

At around 6 millimetres longthey are significantly smaller than bull ants. They can be recognised by their shiny green and purple exoskeleton.

Green-head ants tend to be less aggressive than bull ants, but they can still deliver a meaningful sting. The pain of a green-head ant’s sting can build more gradually, and create an intense, sticky ache.

Fire ants

Fire ants (or red imported fire ants) are originally from South America. They were first detected in Brisbane in 2001thought to have hitched a ride in shipping containers, and have since spread across south-east Queensland.

Fire ants are reddish-brown and black and range in size from 2–6 millimetres long.

You’re most likely to encounter fire ants at their nests, which look like a pile of powdery soil. A fire ant nest doesn’t have an obvious entry, which is a good way to distinguish them from other similar ant nests.

Disturbing a fire ant nest will awaken an angry mass of hundreds of ants and put you at risk of being stung.

The initial pain from an individual sting is like an intense, hot itch, though manageable. But fire ant stings rarely occur in single digits. One ant can sting multiple times, and multiple ants can sting one person, which can lead to hundreds of stings. Fire ant stings can lead to pus-filled ulcers and scarring in the days afterwards.

If you live in an area where there are fire ants, it’s worth taking a few minutes to educate yourself on how to recognise and report them.

Electric ants

Electric ants are another nasty accidental import, originally from Central and South America. Currently restricted to Cairns and surroundsthese are tiny (1.5 millimetres long) yellow ants.

Like fire ants, these ants will typically defend a lotso many will sting at once. Their sting is more painful than you’d expect from such a tiny creature. I liken it to being showered in red hot sparks.

If you think you see electric ants, you should report this to Biosecurity Queensland.

Aussie ants aren’t the worst

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