Twenty years on, working as a chemical ecologist, I was still fascinated by the defence mechanisms of wasps, bees and ants. As part of my job studying interactions between insects and their environment, I did fieldwork that involved collecting different species, providing endless opportunities to get stung. But nothing comes close to the bullet ant. But neither can manage the 24 hours of agony a bullet ant can deliver. If I am stung by an insect I have never encountered before, I still update the pain index, which was recently published in full for the first time – after 35 years, I have been stung by 150 species of insect and covered most that interest me.

Source: The Guardian May 11, 2018 09:01 UTC