Joseph Miller

A New Insect Sting Pain Index

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Starting a few years ago, I became deeply curious about insect stings and their psychological effects on us. Are they actually painful, or do we simply have an inbuilt predisposition to be afraid of them? There was only one way to find out the truth behind our sting experiences, and that was to get stung myself.

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As a beekeeper myself I was acutely aware of how painful honey bee stings were and decided to use that as a rough benchmark for all other stings I experienced. As I built confidence and was stung by more and more of the common species of wasps and bees I began to keep a log of my stings, rating each one and writing a short description of the pain. While not entirely scientific, this was a way of comparing the stings of many species in a somewhat objective way.

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I had of course seen Coyote Peterson's videos of self-inflicted stings by this time, and was deeply skeptical of the dramatic reactions he displayed when getting stung. Yes, some of those species seemed painful, but would they really cause a person to writhe on the ground? I needed to find out for myself, and fortunately two of the three most painful insects in the world could be found in Kansas (most painful according to the Schmidt Pain Index at least). I caught many different species of velvet ants (actually wingless wasps, and purportedly the third most painful insects in the world) and was stung by all of them, and remarkably found none worse than a honeybee. I caught my first Tarantula hawk in 2019 in western Kansas (Hemipepsis ustulata, the second most painful sting according to Schmidt), and was vastly disappointed to discover that it barely stung at all, no worse than a sweat bee. Not convinced that this specific species was representative of all Tarantula hawks, I caught and was stung by two more females in the genus Pepsis, since those are more commonly referenced as being extremely painful. While somewhat more exciting than the other individual, these barely made it into my top five stings, and caused only moderate pain and slight local paralysis. With this insight in mind, I made it my goal to develop a more accurate sting pain index, although I was well aware that this only reflects my own experience, and can't predict how others experience pain. 

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What follows is a list of all 42 species of insects that I have been stung by in the last few years, ranked by intensity and including a brief description of the pain experience. While this pain index will not be able to replace those already in existence, it will hopefully add some balance and realism to the dramatic nature with which others have been portrayed. 

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The Miller Sting Pain Index:

Total # of intentional attempted stings- 100

Species- 42

*This is original research; please contact me at the email address given below for permission to use in any publications or for any online use.*

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1. Honeybee- Instant, blazing pain, feels like someone has pushed a barbed needle into your arm and then tugs on it for a few minutes. Pain mostly gone in 2-3 minutes. I’m able to keep a straight face through it, but barely. Significant swelling lasts for a few hours. Multiple stings to the scalp make it impossible to stay straight-faced and leave you with a pounding, rending migraine for several minutes afterwards; this scenario is the worst pain resulting from a sting I’ve experienced, hence the #1 rating

2.  Western Harvester Ant- Dull throbbing pain that builds over a few minutes and lasts for 30 minutes plus. Aching pain that reaches through your whole arm and into your lymph nodes, very distinctly unpleasant. Spotty red rash rather than swelling, but maybe I’m just allergic.

3.  Common Eastern Bumblebee- Similar pain to a spider wasp, but deeper. Muscles cramp up quickly, it feels like you’ve nicked the bone with a hypodermic needle. Significant pain.

4. Entypus spider wasp- What you imagine a Yellowjacket feels like before you’ve gotten stung. Electric in a way, but also like a knitting needle being pushed into your arm, pulses of pain. I wasn’t able to stay perfectly composed through the stings and had to make noises. Not quite as bad as a Honeybee. Hurts much worse than an ant, but lasts for only a minute or so. Knocks velvet ants out of comparison. Swelling local and not dramatic.

5. Bald-faced Hornet- Classic hornet sting, vibrant stabbing pain, no mistaking what’s going on. Certainly the worst of the hornets. Lasts only a minute or two and swelling is not remarkable.

6. Tarantula Hawk (Pepsis sp) Barber co-Firm, intense pain rather akin to doctors needle. Rapid muscle pain and partial paralysis (much like a cramp) sometimes follows and lasts for a few minutes. Local swelling and red rash may persist for some time. (multiple stings, two individuals)

7. Red Paper Wasp- Intense hot pain, the worst of the paper wasps. Same pain quality as other paper wasps but more intense and lasts about five minutes. Fairly significant local swelling that lasts for a while

8. Tiny velvet ant sp- Stinging, hot pain, lasts for a few minutes. Swells more than other Dasymutilla spp, at least initially. Most painful of the 14 or so Velvet ant stings I’ve taken

9. Cow Killer, Dasymutilla occidentalis- Definitely more pain than other wasps but still totally manageable. Pain builds gently over a minute or so to a pulsing pain that you can feel in your veins and nerves. Lasts only a few minutes. No real itching or significant swelling later

10. Yellowjacket- Intense, localized pain for one to two minutes. Significant swelling later that lasted for over 24 hours brought the rating this high

11. Velvet ant, Dasymutilla quadriguttata- Pain similar to Cow Killer, stinging and itching.

12. Greenish-orange velvet ant- Not bad, not great, similar to other velvet ants.

13. Orange Velvet Ant (similar to californicus)-Similar to other velvet ants. Thin, sharp, rising pain. Feels like someone inserts a long but very thin needle into your arm and then keeps moving it around. Annoying welt develops and lasts for a couple of days

14. Apache paper wasp- Not bad, slightly worse than other paper wasps

15.  Metricus Paper Wasp- Feels like a thin needle being inserted, sharp pain but only lasts for a minute or so. Occasionally more intense, approaching a velvet ant. Slightly more painful than a yellow jacket usually, and the sting hurts for slightly longer. Tender for a few hours.

16. Cicada Killer- It hurts, but most of that pain is because a very thick stinger has just been shoved into your skin and has literally drawn blood. Some pain from the venom but not dramatic. Feels as if a locust thorn has just been jabbed 3/8ths of an inch into your arm. Significant swelling over a fairly large area, similar to some honey bee stings, although in this case I had three stings in one area, so it may not be as dramatic individually. No itching to speak of

17. Blue-winged Wasp- Starts hurting right away. Pretty middle of the road.

18. Tri-colored Bumblebee- Slow onset, slightly aching, no denying that it does hurt a little. Itches kind of a lot for 10-15 minutes

19. Thynnid Wasp sp- Hurts, but not badly. Sharp, but very localized. Pinprick pain with hints of fire ant

20. Tarantula Hawk (Hemipepsis ustulatus) (Hamilton County Wildlife Area KS)- .85, Thin sharp pain immediately, but fading to an itch within seconds. Notable localized swelling, and small red bumps persisted for at least 36 hours. Maybe I got a dud wasp, but it was definitely a female and definitely successfully stung me at least 6-8 times, with the first 3 being the worst.

21. Long-horn Bee- Didn’t hurt at all, oh wait yes it does, ok that is really itchy and burns now. Not too bad though

22. Golden Digger Wasp- Not bad, little prick

23. Matte black wasp- Prick of pain, not much swelling

24. Yellow paper wasp sp- Feels like a thin needle being inserted, sharp pain but only lasts for a minute or so. May swell significantly depending on the sting

25. Northern paper wasp- Very similar to a yellow jacket, you feel the pain of the stinger being inserted, but not much else

26. Yellow paper wasp sp- Hurts a little, swells locally. Standard issue paper wasp sting

27. Black and Yellow Mud Dauber-, Light prick, like a small thistle thorn, disappears in a few seconds

28. Great Black Wasp- Hurts a little, but overshadowed by the very painful biting that’s going on at the other end

29. Little Velvet ant sp- Basically just the pain of the stinger going in. Swells significantly and still itches nearly 24 hours later

30. Hairy wasp- I didn’t even realize it had stung me 3 of the 4 times. A quick onset of pain asymptotically fading soon after. Sharp, but thin. Bold swelling immediately around the sting, a funny very raised bump

31. Agapostomen sweat bee- Light, stinging pain. Vinegar in a pinprick

32. Organ Pipe Mud Dauber- Barely noticeable pain, swells quickly and becomes itchy within seconds.

33. Tiny Yellow Jacket look alike- Hurts just slightly more than the spider wasp, but barely. A pleasant sting

34. Small red spider wasp- Barely a sting, tiny welt

35. Small bee sp- Did it sting me or was that its leg scratching me?

36. Paraguayan wasp (looked like a metricus)-.Did not feel a sting, but soon developed a welt

37.  Large blue spider wasp sp— Would not sting.

38. Western Cicada Killer- Unable to find a female, but was poked by male

39. Small blue wasp- would not sting.

40. Smallish Bumblebee sp- Presumed male, would not sting despite provocation

41. Small tri-colored bumblebee (Monarch Peak CO)- Maybe male? Did not sting

42. Small bumblebee species (Monarch Peak CO)- Maybe male? Did not sting

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References:

Schmidt Pain Index- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_sting_pain_index