To go up or down a full point, a sting had to be discernably more or less painful than the stings on another level. Half points could be used for pricks that fell somewhere between levels.

The bullet ant is right up near the top, accompanied by the tarantula hawk (a species we can discuss another day). He describes the bullet ant’s sting as “pure, intense, brilliant pain…like walking ...

"With a bullet ant sting, the pain is throughout your whole body," Backshall described on a recent episode of the BBC's Infinite Monkey Cage. "You start shaking. You start sweating… It goes through ...

The bullet ant is given a four out of four, for having the most painful sting in the insect world. Justin Schmidt I've read claims by alternative-medicine guru Andrew Weil that stings can be good ...

Some ant species are aggressive and pose danger. Encounters are becoming common due to growing cities and shifting weather. Bullet ant sting causes electric shock-like pain. Maricopa harvester ant ...

The bullet ant and the tarantula hawk wasp [the only other bug to reach a 4 on the pain scale] are like day and night. You can't draw much of a comparison, other than they both really, really hurt.

In his 2016 book "The Sting of the Wild" (Johns Hopkins University Press), entomologist Justin O. Schmidt described being stung by a bullet ant as "pure, intense, brilliant pain.

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'.

The late American entomologist Dr Justin Schmidt, who created a pain index of stinging insects, rated the bullet ant sting the most painful insect sting in the world. “Bullet ant stings can be ...

The pain from a bullet ant sting lasts up to 24 hours, whereas that of the tarantula hawk wasp usually only aggravates the unlucky victim for five minutes. Schmidt has also in the past suggested that ...