The Painful Legacy of the Scarlet Velvet Ant: Unraveling the Mystery Behind Its Excruciating Sting

A collective of biologists, neurologists, and chemists at Indiana University has uncovered the reason why the sting of the velvet ant inflicts significant pain on numerous species. Their research published in Current Biology, details their analysis of all the peptides present in the insect’s venom.

The scarlet velvet ant is notably recognized for its extremely painful sting. However, it is less generally known that the velvet ant is not a true ant at all—it belongs to a type of wingless parasitic wasp. The insect’s venom has been shown to cause pain in a wide array of animals, including mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles—this capability implies that historically, these insects faced numerous predators. Since such a characteristic is rare in the animal world, the team chose to explore its mechanisms.

The team’s investigation involved gathering multiple samples of the venom from various sources and then meticulously examining all 24 peptides it contains. Previous studies have indicated that peptides in venom are nearly always responsible for the painful effects caused by stings. To gain deeper insights into each peptide, they developed synthetic replicas, which made testing more straightforward.

The peptide testing involved administering them individually to test subjects such as fruit flies and mice. Through this process, they discovered that the reason the velvet ants’ venom is so potent against a diverse range of creatures is that it holds particular peptides for different targets. For instance, they identified one, Do6a, which was effective in fruit flies. They also noted that some animals, particularly mammals, experience a heightened pain response due to a combination of two peptides—Do13a and Do10a.

The researchers propose that their discoveries indicate certain animals were possibly more formidable threats to the velvet ants than others—specific peptides, like Do6a, suggest the need for targeting specific animals. They conclude by asserting that their work likely represents just the beginning—it is probable that many organisms possess the ability to cause pain to various others; this potential remains to be fully recognized.

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