# The 5 Most Horrifying Bugs in the World **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 25, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215 "2008-09-25T20:26:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/21 "2008-09-26T02:42:30Z")
Just remember: HUMANS are the most dangerous, most horrifying thing in the world to many in the animal kingdom. Probably the plant kingdom, too. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/22 "2008-09-26T02:50:58Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Didn’t we have a thread on this exact topic just a few months ago? Yes, but all the participants were dragged off into the nest and eaten. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/23 "2008-09-26T03:13:13Z")
I can’t get it to load, but we had some good bugs in Cameroon. The tumbo fly would lay its eggs on clothes you hung out to dry. The larva would burrow into your skin, turning into a painful pimple like lump. You’d have to smear the lump with Vaseline, the suffocating worm would come up to the surface, and then you’d pop them out whole. One of my friends had to squeeze out nine in one day! The blister beetle is a variety of beetles that fly. If they land on you, or even fly too close to you, the drop this powder. The powder will give you nasty burn-like scars. They all look different, so there is no good way to tell what bugs do this and which ones don’t. You just have to assume any given bug will scar you horribly. One of my friends got one stuck in his shirt and didn’t notice until hours later- his back was a mess. Moot-moots would give you filaria, which could end with a worm that crawls across your eyeballs now and then. We didn’t have Guinea worm, which hangs out inside you until it decides to eat its way out of your body through your leg. When that happened you’d have to slowly wind the worm up on a stick while it spent several slowly crawling out of you. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/24 "2008-09-26T03:17:08Z")
I always liked his 6 Cutest Animals that can Still Destroy You more: [http://www.cracked.com/article\_15853\_6-cutest-animals-that-can-still-destroy-you.html](http://www.cracked.com/article_15853_6-cutest-animals-that-can-still-destroy-you.html) Memorable quote: > [@](#): > > Do not attempt to pet the dingos. Do not attempt to play with the dingos. Do not throw squeaky toys to the fucking dingos or attempt to sneak scraps of food to the fucking dingos from the dinner table. If a fucking dingo follows you home, you should not keep it. DO NOT LET A DINGO PLAY WITH YOUR INFANT. > > It took 7,000 years of breeding and training to make your pet dog. This is not your pet dog. This is a fucking dingo. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/25 "2008-09-26T04:15:16Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > [Giant bat eating centipede](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UROVfmY3NTA). You asked, remember that. Holy cow! That thing grabbed a bat in flight and didn’t even lose its grip on the rocks! ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/26 "2008-09-26T04:23:13Z")
Could someone sum up what’s on the list? I’m 99% sure I’ve seen this but for some reason there are a few bugs that particularly up-close pictures of can really give me the willies. Any picture of a tarantula will send me oogie-boogeying. > [@even\_sven](#): > > We didn’t have Guinea worm, which hangs out inside you until it decides to eat its way out of your body through your leg. When that happened you’d have to slowly wind the worm up on a stick while it spent several slowly crawling out of you. I had to write a paper on these over the summer. If you haven’t been back in awhile you might be glad to know they’re almost extinct. They’ve gone from tens of thousands of cases per year to 0 in most places and only a few dozens in a few very remote places now, thanks in large part to former US president Jimmy Carter. ---
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/27 "2008-09-26T13:02:46Z")
Apropos giant centipedes: Have you ever heard someone scream underwater? Last time I was at the Great Barrier Reef, one of the female divers suddenly saw a centipede crawling down her mask just after she had plunged into the water. You see, all the diving gear and wetsuits were stored outside, and apparently she had not checked her gear thoroughly enough when she put it on, so the centipede crawled up from under her BC and down her mask. It was longer than a pencil :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/28 "2008-09-26T13:05:57Z")
[flails and runs away screaming] Nonononooo. Absolutely, positively NO.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/29 "2008-09-26T13:29:54Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I can’t get it to load, but we had some good bugs in Cameroon. And THIS is why I’m glad they sent me to Bulgaria, where the worst thing we had were mosquitoes. Okay, yeah, in December my pipes froze and I didn’t have running water for six weeks, but at least there weren’t any hideous bugs. **Sunspace** , I hate you for telling me about the eyelash mites. My life was much better _without_ that knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/30 "2008-09-26T13:34:59Z")
I don’t give a shit is this same subject is a new thread every two months. I love it! Someone link clock spider and camel spider\* pics pronto! \*fake ---
**Author:** ![beanpod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9adbd/32.png) [@beanpod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beanpod)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/31 "2008-09-26T17:14:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Could someone sum up what’s on the list? Japanese Giant Hornet: As big as your thumb. Sprays poison laced with pheromones that attract other big fucking hornets that spray more poison. Bullet Ant: Getting stung by it is compared to getting shot. Build their hives in trees. They shriek. Africanized Honey Bee: We’ve all heard it. Angry angry bees that chase you forever. Army Ant: This one is cool. They remind me of nanobots. They move in a swarm, turning themselves into bridges to cross obstacles and climbing over one another. They just crawl all over their prey, eat it, and move on. Bot Fly: ew ew ew ew. Bot fly lays eggs on mosquito. Mosquito bites human. Teeny-tiny-tiny eggs hatch and burrow under human’s skin. Larva lives there until it matures and crawls out. The larva also has rows of tiny spikes that prevent it from being pulled out. It mentions the “bot fly in the brain” story, but I refuse to believe it. It seems like a hoax, but if it’s real…no, that never happened, nope nope nope. I don’t care if other sources say it’s true. nope nope nope. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/32 "2008-09-26T19:03:05Z")
> [@bbs2k](#): > > I don’t give a shit is this same subject is a new thread every two months. I love it! Someone link clock spider and camel spider\* pics pronto! > > \*fake 😕 Camel spiders are not fake. They don’t eat camels, but they do exist. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/33 "2008-09-26T19:30:22Z")
I’m sure I read somewhere recently that bacteria and insects and other organisms outnumber actual _H. sapiens_ cells in our bodies. (A mite is an insect, right?) ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/34 "2008-09-26T20:14:38Z")
I watched 1 and 1/2 seconds of that centipede video. I think that was pretty brave of me, actually. Okay, the only ones in that list that make me want to claw my skin off are the bot-flies. DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE. Ahem. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/35 "2008-09-26T20:16:13Z")
> [@Lissla\_Lissar](#): > > I watched 1 and 1/2 seconds of that centipede video. I think that was pretty brave of me, actually. But you missed the best part: When the centipede has the dead bat in its grip and starts making “Nom Nom Nom” noises as it munches down. I agree completely about the bot flies, though. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/36 "2008-09-26T20:17:35Z")
I’m usually pretty non-bug-phobic, but if there’s anything on earth that gives me the icks, it’s those damned giant centipedes. None of the assorted dinosaurs, slugs, spiders or anything in Peter Jackson’s _King Kong_ gave me the remotest quiver, but when that giant centipede crawled up inside the log Naomi Watts was hiding in, I had to speed through it. Gyrrrrgghhh! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/37 "2008-09-26T20:19:33Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > **Sunspace** , I hate you for telling me about the eyelash mites. My life was much better _without_ that knowledge. That always reminds me of the Northern Exposure where Maggie can’t kiss Joel because she imagines all the mites living in his eyelashes. ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/38 "2008-09-26T22:49:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Why worry? They’ve all been around your entire life. > > And the threat of the Africanized bees has been greatly exaggerated – the naked aggression has been bred out of them, and there always have been some strains of bees that were aggressive than regular honeybees. They’re no more dangerous than land sharks. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA While the danger is less than the old 70s TV movies, the aggression has most certainly _not_ been bred out of Africanized honey bees. We have several attacks a year here in AZ, normally in the Spring. They’re not usually fatal, but multiple dozens, even hundreds of stings are not uncommon. It was declared a few years ago that the Africanized strain has completely displaced the European bees here in AZ. The good thing is, that eliminates any guessing when you see a hive. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/39 "2008-09-26T23:13:17Z")
> [@FallenAngel](#): > > HAHAHAHAHAHAHA > > While the danger is less than the old 70s TV movies, the aggression has most certainly _not_ been bred out of Africanized honey bees. We have several attacks a year here in AZ, normally in the Spring. They’re not usually fatal, but multiple dozens, even hundreds of stings are not uncommon. > > It was declared a few years ago that the Africanized strain has completely displaced the European bees here in AZ. The good thing is, that eliminates any guessing when you see a hive. Shit, really? Do they nest in the ground, by chance? There was some kind of bees’ nest in the ground on the hiking trail behind my house last year, always mad with activity. There would always be a cloud of maybe 15-20 of them just swarming around near this hole in the ground. I would just slow down and walk past it very cautiously. Was I risking my life? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215/40 "2008-09-27T16:36:07Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > 😕 Camel spiders are not fake. They don’t eat camels, but they do exist. I think **BBS2K** was referring to the highly-publicized [picture](http://www.camelspiders.net/large-camel-spider-picture.htm) of the camel spiders with the soldiers in Iraq that circulated a while back. The way they shot the picture, most people compare the size of the spiders to the soldier’s legs in the background, and it looks like the damned things are 18" long. If you compare the spiders to the sleeve in the foreground (and remember that there are two in the picture) you get a much better idea of their size. It’s not that the picture is a fake–it appears to be completely real–it’s just that the perspective gives a highly exaggerated perception of their size. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-the-world/465215.md?page=3)