[Sally Le Page (OP)]

We've had this question in from listener Sarah:

"Why do ant bites hurt so much?"

What do you think?

[Origin]

The ants I have encountered do not have a very painful bite.  However certain kinds of ants can sting you, like fire ants, which can be very painful due to the poison they inject.

[alancalverd]

Latin name for an ant is formica - from which we get formic acid HCOOH. Different species inject various amounts when attacked or to kill their prey. Some people are allergic but even if you have no secondary reaction, it's a powerful acid and causes tissue damage.

[evan_au]

Even without the formic acid, some ants have very large jaws, which could give you quite a nip...
While one ant may not be too bad, they have the advantage of large numbers, and some species tend to attack in swarms..
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_ant

[Iannguyen]

We've had this question in from listener Sarah:

"Why do ant bites hurt so much?"

What do you think?

Why do most people get scared when going to a doctor? Because we know things might get damp when the doctor brings out a needle. The inner instinct of ours troubles us. Needles do hurt, but the extra hurt comes from our senses. Thus, I will suggest that ant bites do hurt, but if you consider the word ‘hurt’ from them, it surprises me a lot. But considering only the term hurt, let me explain through the concept of the needle. A needle hurts because it is injected into your skin.
Similarly, ants use their ‘needles’ to sting or bite you. Although the sting only comes from the female ant while the bite comes from the male. The sting hurts more than the bite, and it is because of simpler and obvious reasons. The female ant stings by using its ‘needle’ and pinches you while injecting the venom inside you. This process hurts the most and sometimes causes a minor bleed.

[Mckenzie]

Probably because of formic acid, Happened few days back, when I passed by colony and few of them got on to my shoe. It bleeds as well.

[AlphAcorn]

It depends on the ant, they all have different toxins or concentrations of same, and yes some have very powerful pincers, and hurt quite a bit, Safari ants for instance are notorious biters as are Carpenter ants, but even the smaller varieties have painful stings.

[Robida]

We've had this question in from listener Sarah:

"Why do ant bites hurt so much?"

What do you think?

It is very normal to feel pins and needles pain after being bitten by ants. When you are bitten by an ant, it will inject some toxic substance containing ant acid into your body at the same time, although the mount is very small, it's more irritating to your body.

[Deecart]

Most common ants dont inject anything because they dont have a sting.
They try to bite but their mandibles are harmless.
The mandibles dont inject anything like one spider could do.
But they have the possibility to spread the formic acid using their abdomen.
This acid, like the one of the nettles, when dropped on the skin, enter the pores of the skin.
This is what hurt, like the nettles.

Some more rare ants have stings, like the wasps (this is because they belong to the Hymenoptera order).
These ants inject poison and some are known to give one of the most great pain.
Trying to bear the pain is part of the initiation of some indigenous peoples living in the amazonian forest.

[Niko43Gold]

To give a short answer some ants not all of them evolved painful bites so they could protect themselves,it's that simple

[William Hardy]

It releases formic acid. It is painfull, and if you rub it it spreads.

[paul cotter]

Formic acid is quite a strong acid for a carboxylic acid and will elicit pain if injected subcutaneously. The fire ants of Florida which apparently give a sting comparable to a lit cigarette being extinguished on one's skin deliver a capsaicinoid, with similar neurologic effect to that of capsaicin, the active ingredient of chilli( if I remember correctly! ).   

[Bored chemist]

"Why do ant bites hurt so much?"
So you leave them alone.

[amadjan]

formic acid is the case and don't tease them

[Eternal Student]

Hi  @amadjan.

    There's only about a dozen regular users here and many of them don't say much to first time posters because most of the time they are just trying to spam the site.    However, you seem to have made a few posts in different categories that are actually sensible.   So "Hello and welcome".