The Schmidt Pain Scale for Stinging Insects ranks the pain of insect stings on a scale of one to four.
On this scale, the sting of the Western honeybee scores a paltry two, while that of the red paper wasp and Klug's velvet ant achieve a three. At four, however, is the sting of the South American bullet ant.
Entomologist Dr Justin O Schmidt, who won a 2015 Ig Nobel Prize for devising the scale, described being stung by the feisty nipper as “pure, intense, brilliant pain… like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel.”
This article is an answer to the question (asked by Samuel Beck, via email) 'What's the most painful insect sting?'
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