Ten Most Painful Stings on the Planet — Dave’s Diary

With about two weeks until Labor Day many of us will be planning one last trip into the great outdoors—giving us all one more chance to face the ten most painful stings on the planet!

Most of us will have felt the pain of a bee sting. Luckily most of us will have avoided the dreaded pain of a tarantula hawk or a fire ant.

Author and entomologist Justin Schmidt felt all three of these - and 147 other horrible, burning sensations - after a dedicated life-long career devoted to insects.  Schmidt turned his experiences into the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, ranking 78 species in a list which, while subjective, was put together by the man who must surely know best, ranking their pain on a scale of 1 to 4 with 4 being the most excruciating

10. Sweat Bee, Rating: 1.0
A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm.

9. Fire Ant, Rating: 1.2
Sharp, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet and reaching for the light switch.

8. Bullhorn Acacia Ant, Rating: 1.8
A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.

7. Bald-Faced Hornet, Rating: 2.0
Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.

6. Yellow jacket, Rating: 2.0’                                                                                                                                    Imagine W. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.

5. Honeybee, Rating: 2.0
The sensation is like a match head that flips off and burns on your skin.

4. Red Harvester Ant, Rating: 3.0
Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.

3. Paper Wasp, Rating: 3.0
Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.

2. Tarantula Hawk, Rating: 4.0
Blinding, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath.

1. Bullet Ant Rating: 4+
Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail grinding into your heel. The bullet ant, otherwise known as 'paraponera' or the 'giant hunting ant', has a powerful sting that can last for 24 hours. Some victims have likened the pain to 'being shot with a bullet'.