I’ve lived in Texas my whole life, and most of that time was spent living in Central Texas. I’m quite familiar with the native flora and fauna … and stinging insects. I haven’t seen an unknown insect in a very long time. I may not know it’s actual name, but I always know what kind of insect it is and whether or not I should fear it.

About an hour ago, I went outside to drive some bamboo stakes into the corners of my raised beds, in preparation for covering my plants tonight (in case we really do get a light freeze). A bright spot of moving color near the corn caught my eye. I ambled closer. It was an insect. It was a large insect. It was a large insect I have never seen before anywhere. Big, black, and orange … all shimmery and metallic looking in the late afternoon sunlight. It had so much shine and opalescence to it, it almost looked velvety.

My first reaction was “Ooooh. Pretty!” Naturally, I whipped out my cell phone to try to get a photo. As I got closer to the living bright and shiny creature, I had my second reaction, which was “Run away! Run away!” Instinctual reactions are a wonderful thing sometimes. I ran back into the house.

After typing my description into Google, I almost immediately found out that the large unknown insect was a Tarantula Hawk. It is, in fact, a beautiful creature, but one researcher described the pain from its sting as as “…immediate, excruciating pain that simply shuts down one’s ability to do anything, except, perhaps, scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations.” Apparently, the sting of the Tarantula Hawk is one of the most painful of all insects.

My third reaction –the one I had while running into the house like a scared little girl– was to kill it. I rather wish I had, even though I am generally opposed to killing things. I assure you, if I see another one, it will be dead. I am going to plan my attack in advance. I’m thinking when planning to kill something that would likely leave me writhing on the ground screaming until my lungs bleed, advance planning is probably a wise thing to do. I do not want to get stung by one of these things. I feel ill just thinking about it.