Insect that feels like fire

As we were driving a month or so ago, an insect landed on my leg. I went to pick it up and throw it out the window. Instead when I touched it, it felt like I picked up a hot needle. I screamed and dropped it.
It was tiny little thing, about the size of the top of a straight pin. My finger throbbed for about 30 minutes.

Last night, the same thing happened, except I didnt see it, because we had just shut off the lights. It left a purple 'pinch' on my inner arm. Felt like someone shoved a hot needle in my arm.

Rob and I tried looking on google, without luck.
Has anyone here, experienced this bug before..or know what it could be?

In the van, it was tiny dark shelled, like a beetle.
 
Hopefully not a fire ant (dreaded insect pest from California) which may have found its way to Oz. Apparently there were some up on the Gold Coast and more recently in Botany.

120711fireant_s.jpg
 
What areas of OZ were /are you in, never sure with you guys where you are :)

A lot of bugs like it a certain temperature or wet/dry so area could help identification
 
I reckon it just sounds like a common paper wasp. I'm pretty sure they were introduced to Australia but could be wrong. Their sting is short and sharp and feels like a hot pri-ck. But then they are a bit bigger than the thing you describe?


See ya's.
 
When it first happened, we had already left Brisbane area...and headed towards Mount Isa....not sure exactly where it was.
When it happened again, we were at Threeways, NT (25 kms outside tennant creek)

Not an ant, nor a wasp.
When I saw it in the van, it didn't look menacing at all, that is why I was just going to pick it up and flick it out the window.

More I think about it...maybe it wasn't round (starting to second guess myself) and more elongated. Either way, it really looked harmless.
 
No idea

Everything in Australia wants to kill you according to Billy Connolly and it's a wonder we make it past 21


There is an Assassin Bug in QLD :confused:

pristhesancus-plagipennis-2.jpg
 
maybe I discovered a new bug....

there is no bump, like mosquito bit.
It isn't itchy.
It throbs for about 30 minutes, and then absolutely no pain....looked for a stinger, but couldn't see any.
It doesn't have visible wings.

It leaves a small round purple mark..almost like a blood blister (without the bubble of blood)
 
How 'bout this one? Australian Bombardier Beetle.

wiki: when disturbed, they eject a hot noxious chemical spray from the tip of their abdomen, with a popping sound.

The spray is produced by a reaction between two chemical compounds, hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide, stored in separate reservoirs in the beetle's abdomen and mixed when needed in a third chamber with water and catalytic enzymes. Heat from the reaction brings the mixture to near the boiling point of water and produces gas that drives the ejection. The damage caused can be fatal to attacking insects and small creatures and is painful to human skin.
 

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How 'bout this one? Australian Bombardier Beetle.


When I did a google on your bombardier beetle..I saw this.
I don't have a subscription to that website, so I couldn't open it...and when I did a google on the 'boiling beetle' nothing showed up.
But this sounds just like it.



"A healthy young man, upon placing the palm of his hand on a wooden floor, experienced an immediate severe burning sensation. A small black shiny beetle was found lying partially crushed. The initial burning pain in the palm subsided, but a dull discomfort persisted for several hours. Examination revealed two areas of dark yellow-brown discoloration, resembling the colour of iodine, on the palm"

https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2002/177/11/boiling-beetles
 
Nothing like getting a few green ants up your trouser legs ... gives new meaning to "ants in your pants".

Had a swam down my shirt in the paddock one day - quickest striptease ever and bugger the neighbours
 
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