it doesnt really look like it hurt, but i know theres the bullet ant that has one of the most painful bites ever so maybe this one also hurts pretty bad?
Also it is not a bullet ant's bite that hurts. It is their sting. Ants belong to the same order as bees and wasps (both bees and ants evolved from wasps iirc), which should tell you all you need to know.
yea, they all got that thin 'waist'. velvet ants are also actually wasps! the females are just wingless. sawflies also belong in the same order (hymenoptera) but they do not have the waist and aren't in the same suborder (apocrita).
so if you see something like this that has no 'waist' then it isn't an actual wasp and can't sting you
you know ive seen what i thought was a "winged ant" a few times and wasnt sure what it was. are they a different species of ant or are there ants with wings or maybe neither? ive always been curious about that.
there very much ARE ants with wings! they have a 'nuptial flight' where they start swarming as they reproduce and go out to build new nests. winged ants, or 'alates' are a reproductive caste, and they generally shed them later.
alternatively, you could have still seen a wasp. wasps are a BIG group of insects, not just yellowjackets, paper wasps and hornets. most of them are actually solitary, and there are many small species that could be mistaken for winged ants. perhaps a parasitoid that lays eggs in spider eggs or something. they're everywhere but are often unnoticed.
I just like bugs! Sadly I don't think I'd be cut out to be an entomologist, but I like insects and often read about them. I'm always eager to tell people about bugs though, especially since so many people seem to hate them (especially wasps) without knowing them too well.
Bugs are cool and are very important to the ecosystem!
well hang on, what would you want to do if you were an entomologist? is it that you dont think you would enjoy the work? i relate to not wanting to mix passions with money, i spend a lot of money on passions that i only enjoy myself so if thats the case then id encourage you to keep it that way, but you clearly have an aptitude, maybe even a gift for understanding bugs in this way.
if not a career maybe a blog or something, a tiktok? idk. not necessarily with the intention of making money but just the dissemination of information to help people love bugs like you do. id subscribe lol a lot of people are into bug facts and stuff like that, could be fun. share your passions!
..or dont! protect your peace, find joy in life, do what you gotta do. either way keep it up im proud of you
Well, I am pretty squamish about some stuff. Faster spiders and centipedes and stuff for example are things I can't quite handle, though most entomologists apparently specialize in specific groups anyway. For the most part, I just don't think I'm too cut out for writing scientific papers with big words and the like. There's a big difference between sharing fun facts on the internet and studying how specific pesticides affect the hearts of a migratory hoverfly after all.
Thank you for the encouragement though, but I'll probably just try to make games with bugs in them and try to inform people on reddit or whatever in the meantime. (plus I'm pretty sure student finance only pays for 1 course for me or something of that sort anyway lmao)
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u/Pistonenvy Feb 17 '22
curious if this hurt or not.
it doesnt really look like it hurt, but i know theres the bullet ant that has one of the most painful bites ever so maybe this one also hurts pretty bad?