Fire Ant

Fire Ants are creatures living in the Capital and in the Mojave Wasteland.

Background
The fire ants of the Capital Wasteland were created by a scientist named Doctor Lesko. The doctor was attempting to return giant ants to their normal size through genetic manipulation and accidentally created the fire ants. Dr. Lesko's ambition was to make the ants exponentially smaller through generations, meaning the offspring are born smaller than their parents for generations to come. He reasons that one small tweak of an error has left the ants with a completely different mutation.

Lesko further explains that the ants breathe fire by expelling flammable venom from what was their venom sacks, then igniting it with a spark made by clicking their mandibles. He calls this process "pyrosis." 

Fire ant nest guardian


Fire ant nest guardians are much harder to kill than any other type of fire ant. There are five of these kinds of ant protecting the queen. Doctor Lesko refers to these ants as the queen's "quintet of Nest Guardians."

Fire ant soldier
Fire ant soldiers are the second-lowest ranked ant in the fire ant colony. Their job is to protect their area from intruders. They are very aggressive and will attack humans, as well as other creatures on sight.

Fire ant warrior
Warrior fire ants are the predominant variety of ant encountered in the Marigold Metro tunnels in the Capital Wasteland.

Fire ant worker
Fire ant workers dig tunnels and care for the eggs. However, they will attack intruders if they are threatened.

Ant queen
Uses a ranged acid spitting attack instead.