The Top 5 Most Painful Insect Stings

  Insect Schmidt Sting Pain Index Description
1 Bullet ant 4.0+ Pure, intense, brilliant pain.
2 Tarantula hawk 4.0 Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric.
3 Paper wasp 3.0 Caustic and burning pain.
4 Red harvester ant 3.0 Bold and unrelenting pain.
5 Honey bee and European hornet 2.0 Burning fiery pain.
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Sources:  Schmidt Sting Pain Index: Schmidt, J. O., Blum, M. S., and Overal, W. L. "Hemolytic activities of stinging insect venoms", Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology, 1:155–160, 1984.

List Notes: The Schmidt Sting Pain Index was created through personal experience by Justin O. Schmidt, a researcher in Tucson, Ariz. The index provides pain descriptions for 78 species and 41 genera of Hymenoptera.
Most Painful Insect Stings

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