I've been stung by a velvet ant and I didn't think the pain was that bad. He did sting me thru a golf glove though. I did also feel like a donkey was sitting on my chest for the last two holes.

Are you sure that you did not receive a Cleveland Steamer from John Daly?

Wouldn't this just beat all levels of irony....commented last night with my list of stings and pain levels....today I get attacked by bees (had to be African because me and my coworker just walked within 30 yards of some hive boxes while doing a pipeline survey and they came at us like gang busters). Caught 3 to the back of the head, one to the cheek, and one on a finger before got out of the attack zone...Haven't been stung by bees in 20 years and I comment they aren't that big of deal and they check me on it. Finger hurts like hell...lil' b****ds!

[This message has been edited by TXScorpio1111 (edited 4/24/2014 4:26p).]

I think people often confuse paper wasps with yellowjackets. I do.

Yellow jacket nests are in the ground. And I can confirm that no matter how foolproof the plan seems, parking your running lawnmower over the entrance will NOT result in all the yellow jackets being shredded as they emerge. They will emerge unharmed. In one piece. And VERY pissed off.

Found while googling:

Alleged worst stings

Platypus
Gila Monster
Black Widow spider
Stingray
Tarantula Hawk
Stonefish
Viper

Arizona Bark Scorpion
*These are the most venomous scorpions in North America — a frightening fact considering that this is the most commonly encountered house scorpion in Arizona. The venom causes acute pain and can lead to frothing at the mouth, breathing difficulties and muscle convulsions. Limbs may become immobilized. Though the venom is rarely fatal, its effects can last for as long as 72 excruciating hours.

Box Jellyfish
*These gelatinous sea creatures, sometimes referred to as "stingers" in Australia, are among the most feared animals in the ocean. You might have a better chance of escaping a shark attack unscathed than surviving a swim through a box jellyfish's tentacles. The venom is so toxic that it is reputed to be the most venomous creature in the world. Adding to their nightmarish mystique, box jellyfish are nearly invisible to unsuspecting swimmers.

Bullet Ant
*As evidenced by the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, the bullet ant has the reputation of delivering the most painful sting in the insect world. Some even believe that a bullet ant sting might be the most painful sting, period. Amazingly, there's an indigenous tribe in South America that requires young men to endure these stings for 10 minutes at a time — as many as 20 times consecutively — as a rite of passage ritual. Despite the pain, the stings are not fatal and cause no permanent damage, except maybe to the psyche.


Which lead to Schmidt sting pain index

quote:

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The Schmidt sting pain index is a pain scale rating the relative pain caused by different hymenopteran stings. It is mainly the work of Justin O. Schmidt (born 1947), an entomologist at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Arizona. Schmidt has published a number of papers on the subject, and claims to have been stung by the majority of stinging Hymenoptera.

His original paper in 1983 was an attempt to systematize and compare the hemolytic properties of insect venoms.[1] The index contained in the paper started from 0 for stings that are completely ineffective against humans, progressed through 2, a familiar pain such as a common bee or wasp sting and finished at 4 for the most painful stings. In the conclusion, some descriptions of the most painful examples were given, e.g.: "Paraponera clavata stings induced immediate, excruciating pain and numbness to pencil-point pressure, as well as trembling in the form of a totally uncontrollable urge to shake the affected part."

Subsequently, Schmidt has refined his scale, culminating in a paper published in 1990, which classifies the stings of 78 species and 41 genera of Hymenoptera. Schmidt described some of the experiences in vivid detail.[2]

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And yes, I had to look up Paraponera clavata. That's the bullet ant referenced above.

Wiki

The pain caused by this insect's sting is purported to be greater than that of any other hymenopteran, and is ranked as the most painful according to the Schmidt sting pain index, given a "4+" rating, above the tarantula hawk wasp and, according to some victims, equal to being shot, hence the name of the insect. It is described as causing "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours". The ant is thought to have evolved its sting to ward off any predators that would normally unearth them.[2] Poneratoxin, a paralyzing neurotoxic peptide isolated from the venom, affects voltage-dependent sodium ion channels and blocks the synaptic transmission in the central nervous system. It is being investigated for possible medical applications.[5][6]

Schmidt index with numbers

quote:

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Sweat Bee
Pain Scale Rating: 1.0
Duration of pain: short

How the sting feels: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. As if a tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm.

Fire Ant
Pain Scale Rating: 1.2
Duration of pain: 2-5 minutes

How the sting feels: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.

Bullhorn Acacia Ant
Pain Scale Rating: 1.8
Duration of pain: 4-6 minutes

How the sting feels: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.

Bald Faced Hornet
Pain Scale Rating: 2.0
Duration of pain: 3-4 minutes

How the sting feels: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.

Yellowjacket
Pain Scale Rating: 2.0
Duration of pain: 4-10 minutes

How the sting feels: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine W. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.

Honey Bee
Pain Scale Rating: 2.0
Duration of pain: 4-10 minutes

How the sting feels: Like a matchhead that flips off and burns on your skin.

Red Harvester Ant
Pain Scale Rating: 3.0
Duration of pain: 1-8 hours

How the sting feels: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.

Paper Wasp
Pain Scale Rating: 3.0
Duration of pain: 5-15 minutes

How the sting feels: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.

Tarantula Hawk
Pain Scale Rating: 4.0
Duration of pain: 3 minutes

How the sting feels: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath.

Bullet Ant
Pain Scale Rating: 4.0+
Duration of pain: 12-24 hours

How the sting feels: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail in your heel.

---

After seeing that I had to google Bullet Ant and Tarantula Hawk.

We have the Tarantula Hawk but never saw anyone get stung by one. It looks like a wasp to me.

The bullet ant is in Rain Forests....South and Central America.

There's some research I do not want to be part of.

1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm.


1.2 Fire ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.

1.8 Bullhorn acacia ant: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.


2.0 Bald-faced hornet: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.


2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.


2.x European hornet.
3.0 Red harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.


3.0 Paper wasp: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of Hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.

4.0 Pepsis wasp: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath (if you get stung by one you might as well lie down and scream).


4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel.


[This message has been edited by Aggie Infantry (edited 4/25/2014 8:07a).]

I bet most people that think they were stung by a Yellow Jacket were actually stung by a yellow paper wasp. Not long ago I was hit in the hand by a Yellow Jacket and my hand was swollen and hurt most of the night, like getting it slammed in a car door.

I have been stung by Red Wasps probably ten times in the last two years, not a big deal. I guess people feel or tolerate pain differently.

Worst to least for me:

EX-Wife
Yellow Jacket
Bald Faced Hornet
Yellow Paper Wasp
Red Paper Wasp
Scorpion (I think it was a light hit)
Honey Bee





[This message has been edited by TXNative (edited 4/25/2014 8:16a).]

Haven't been stung since I was about 12, but red wasp was definitely worse than yellow jacket stings for me.

I made it 30 years before getting my first scorpion sting last fall... and holy **** that thing was half the size of a yellowjacket but it sure made half of my hand burn like it was glued to a wood stove. 10 minutes after it stung me I started having a strange taste in my mouth and my tongue went numb. Whole left arm then started to feel like jello.

Goes without saying that I'm hoping for another 30 years to pass before I get to experience that again.

quote:

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Yellow jacket nests are in the ground. And I can confirm that no matter how foolproof the plan seems, parking your running lawnmower over the entrance will NOT result in all the yellow jackets being shredded as they emerge. They will emerge unharmed. In one piece. And VERY pissed off

---

This. I've been stung a bunch by yellow jackets (the ground dwellers, not the yellow paper wasps) cutting yards and it is not an experience I care to repeat.

But the worst for me was fishing at my grandparents pond in Mississippi and was casting back and got the line hung in a wild rose bush behind me. I was pulling, pulling the line and it wouldn't come loose so went back to the bush to free it. Not knowing that there was a bald faced hornets nest in the bush that I had aggravated by pulling on the line. Got stung a few times in the arms, neck and face and did a dive into the pond to get away from those *******s.

Bumble bees the worst--was in the trailer parked over their nest in the watermelon field once. Then yellow jackets and then red wasps. My dad is amazing. He worked for a phone company and often had to open the pedestals where cable connections were made. Red wasps loved them. He would open the pedestal and use a pair of needle nose pliers to grab the nest by the base and toss it aside so he could work.

Damn. How the hell do some of y'all get stung so much? Probably because Texas is such an opportunity rich environment fro getting stung.

I hate asps. And brown recluse and black widows. Kill em if I see one.

My only experiences with getting stung: honeybee, yellowjacket, scorpion, fire ant, unknown spider in a Montana motel room.

The spider bite was the worst. For 3 days my shoulder and left arm were very sore and could barely move. Then the pain and soreness was gone.

Had close calls with wasps, hornets, black widow. As kids we loved to find big wasp nests and throw rocks and dirt clods at em.

I once had an encounter with a Cicada Killer : the harrier jet of the insect world.

If you have ever seen one, they are huge and look like total badasses.

I was in 4th grade. Mid 1960's. I was riding my coaster bicycle down the alley behind our house in Brownwood and moving at a pretty good clip. A cicada killer going full speed collided with me. It hit me right in the temple. Knocked me off my bike. I lay there in the alley for about ten seconds, thinking "crap, if that thing stung me, it will start hurting any second now." When nothing happened, I hopped up.

The collision stunned the cicada killer, too. After a 10-15 seconds, it started buzzing loudly. I figured it might be mad and about to come after me, like a bee or wasp will do, but it did a harrier takeoff and zoomed off like a jet. It never paid any attention to me. The collision was purely accidental.

May have been a Hobo spider.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo_spider

quote:

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1.2 Fire ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.

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A single fire ant isn't too bad, however, when one gets you, it usually brings along several hundred friends to join in the fun.

Ya that fire ant number goes up when you get stung on your peter

Two distinct events happened to me this weekend, while clearing up our landscaping around the back of our house this weekend.

1. We have lots of read lava rock, which requires cleaning up from the oak leaves. This is done using two leaf blowers, one to lift the rock up creating a blowing effect, and the other to separate the leaves from the rock. As you can imagine there's a whole lock of stuff flying around while this is going on. I thought I was getting hit in the shins from rocks and debris. Turns out it was fire ants that hat been lifted into the air and deposited on my legs, which they were lighting up. Needless to say I got hammered, but never saw the damn things on my legs. Found the nest while planting today and figured out what happened.

2. While planting today, I felt something hit my stomach repeatedly, with a little thump, looked down just fast enough to see what looked to be a yellow "hornet" thing fly up and to a mud nest on the mortar between the bricks on the wall. Definitely not a mud dawber, as it was much smaller, aggressive, and only a one tube nest. Climbed out and flew away in a blur. What, OB, in the heck was that? Any ideas?

DDP..

[This message has been edited by Old Sarge (edited 4/27/2014 9:47p).]

sounds like a dikfer wasp