Small But Terrible: 5 Most Painful Insect Bites in the World

Not many would go in so much trouble to measure pain. Besides, most people should not volunteer to be stung to assess the discomfort.

Fortunately for the rest of us, Justin O. Schmidt, an entomologist, set out to do just that. Schmidt plucked a honey bee from a flower when he was seven years old and put it on his teacher's shoulder. Schmidt's obsession with insect defense mechanisms increased as the bee quickly reinforced Schmidt's suspicion that it could sting.

His action effectively developed a quick and easy ranking of the most painful insect stings is impossible.

Schmidt created a pain map, now known as the Schmidt Pain Index, later in his scientific career to better compare the pain of different insect stings. He has been stung by 150 various insects throughout his lifetime, making him an authority about which stings are the most painful.

Justin Schmidt's study has identified five of the most intense insect stings, which we will look at on this list. The Schmidt Pain Index rates insect stings on a scale of 0 to 4, with 0 indicating no pain and 4 indicating excruciating pain.

According to Schmidt, here are the 5 most painful insect stings in the world!

5 Western Honey Bee

The bullet ant, Paraponera clavata, is a genus of ant that is noted for its excruciating sting. It can be found in tropical lowland rainforests from Nicaragua to Honduras' far east coast and Paraguay.

At 4.0+ on Schmidt's sting pain meter, the bullet ant's sting is currently the most painful. The discomfort feels like "walking over burning charcoal with three inches of nails stuck in your heel," according to Justin O. Schmidt.

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