Bullet ant venom contains poneratoxin, a peptide that acts on voltage-gated sodium channels in nerve and muscle. Rather than blocking them, it holds channels open in a way that produces repetitive, uncontrolled firing, which the nervous system registers as sustained severe pain. The effect can last many hours and is often accompanied by trembling and sweating.
Justin Schmidt placed the sting at the top of his four-point pain index, describing it as pure, intense and brilliant. That is a rating of pain, not danger: the venom is not systemically dangerous to a healthy adult in a single sting, and the ant is not prone to attack.
The Sateré-Mawé people of Brazil use the ants in a documented initiation ritual in which sedated ants are woven into a glove worn by the initiate. What is often garbled is the ant's temperament. Bullet ants forage alone, mostly for nectar and small arthropods, and generally stridulate a warning before stinging. Nearly all human stings follow direct disturbance of the ant or its nest.