ouch

...well, not really.  But an exchange I had at Photo Synthesis with Andrew Bleiman of Zooillogix got me thinking about all the different insects that have charmingly envenomated me at one time or another. Myrmecia piliventris, Australia So I'm starting a meme called Things That Have Stung Me.  The rules are simple: List all the things that have stung you. Bites don't count. Pass the meme to 3 or more other bloggers you suspect have also been well-zinged. Here are mine. Things that have stung me: Ants: Pachycondyla verenae Pachycondyla harpax Pachycondyla villosa Pachycondyla…
An Amblyopone oregonensis huntress delivers a paralyzing dose of venom to a centipede. This lets the ant larvae consume it alive later, at their leisure. Ow. Ow, Ow. Yes, that is the stinger you see, sunk deep into the head. A cricket is impaled on the mandibles of a Malagasy trap-jaw ant, Odontomachus coquereli. That's gotta hurt. Mantids don't wait for their prey to expire before they tear them to pieces. An aphid receives the egg of a braconid wasp (Aphidius ervi). But that's probably better than getting your innards suddenly schlorped out by a syrphid fly larva.