Stung

August 6, 2012 — Bullet ant, honeybee, justin O. Schmidt, Red Harvester, sting

Next time you want to describe someone as ‘a pain’, try to be a bit more precise. That’s what entomologist Justin O Schmidt did when he wanted to create an index showing how painful the stings of various insects were. Exposing himself to actual stings he came up with the following: -

The scale runs from 0 to 4+. The cute honeybee scores 0-2 and is described as “Like a matchthread that flips off and burns your skin”. The Red Harvester ant scores a big 3 as it feels “Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrowing toenail”

But do watch out for the 4+ Bullet ant whose sting is “Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like fire walking over flaming charcoal with a three inch nail grinding into your heel”.