“Just lie down and scream.”
That’s the advice of a peer-reviewed journal if you’re bitten by the nefarious tarantula hawk.
The insect, specifically, is a spider wasp that hunts tarantulas, native to nearly every continent. They’ve been spotted as far north as Logan, Utah, in the U.S. and in Argentina.
Tarantula hawk females, the ones with the stinger, don’t sting often. But when they do, it’s said to be extremely painful.
In an Imgur post, one person described being stung by the insect.
“I honestly thought this thing had killed me. The pain lasted for about 5 minutes (though it felt like eternity), for the duration of which I did nothing but lie in the fetal position and scream/wail/moan,” they added.
Apparently, the bullet ant—native to South America—has the most painful sting of all insects. It’s named as such because being stung by one feels like being shot.