Description of an injury in a human caused by a false tocandira (Dinoponera gigantea, Perty, 1833) with a revision on folkloric, pharmacological and clinical aspects of the giant ants of the genera Paraponera and Dinoponera (sub-family Ponerinae)

Abstract

The authors observed an injury caused by the sting of a false tocandira ant in the hand of an amateur fisherman and they describe the clinical findings and the evolution of the envenoming, which presented an acute and violent pain, cold sweating, nausea, a vomiting episode, malaise, tachycardia and left axillary's lymphadenopathy. About three hours after the accident, still feeling intense pain in the place of the sting, he presented an episode of great amount of blood in the feces with no history of digestive, hematological or vascular problems. The intense pain decreased after eight hours, but the place stayed moderately painful for about 24 hours. In that moment, he presented small grade of local edema and erythema. The authors still present the folkloric, pharmacological and clinical aspects related to the tocandiras stings, a very interesting family of ants, which presents the largest and more venomous ants of the world.

Pro- and Anticonvulsant Effects of the Ant Dinoponera quadriceps (Kempf) Venom in Mice

“…Relevant to the present study, the Ponerinae subfamily includes the genus Dinoponera Roger a primitive group of large ants that can provoke extremely painful stings and potential systemic manifestations such as fever, tremor, cold sweating, nausea, vomiting, lymphadenopathy, and cardiac arrhythmias (Haddad Junior et al 2005). Dinoponera quadriceps (Kempf) is a queenless Ponerinae ant found in the Northeastern Brazil (Medeiros et al 2012).…”

A revision of the giant Amazonian ants of the genus Dinoponera (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

“…For subduing large live prey and defense (Morgan, 1993), workers possess a sting that has been known to cause severe pain lasting up to 48 hours, lymphaedenopathy, edema, tachycardia and fresh blood to appear in human victim feces are common symptoms (Haddad et al 2005). In gamergates the venom sac is empty (Monnin et al 2002).…”

“…Billen et al (1995) studied the morphology and ultrastructure of the pygidial gland of D. australis. Due to the high diversity of compounds and systemic effects found by Haddad et al (2005), venom of Dinoponera could be of use to the pharmaceutical industry. For instance, Sousa et al (2012) demonstrated in mice that venom from D. quadriceps had antinociceptive properties.…”

Peptidomic comparison and characterization of the major components of the venom of the giant ant Dinoponera quadriceps collected in four different areas of Brazil

“…The ants from the genus Dinoponera (false Tocandiras) are believed to be the world's largest living ants with a body length of 3 cm. Their occurrence is restricted to tropical and sub-tropical areas of South America [10]. Even though envenomation occurrences are not so common, a case survey describes that their sting may produce acute and violent pain, cold sweating, nausea, vomiting, malaise, tachycardia and left axillary's lymphadenopathy [10].…”

“…Their occurrence is restricted to tropical and sub-tropical areas of South America [10]. Even though envenomation occurrences are not so common, a case survey describes that their sting may produce acute and violent pain, cold sweating, nausea, vomiting, malaise, tachycardia and left axillary's lymphadenopathy [10]. Curiously, and despite the noxious effects inflicted, it was demonstrated in mice that the venom from D. quadriceps displays anti-nociceptive properties.…”