 Myrmecia workers and queens possess a sting , which can be fatal to sensitive human beings . The sting has been described as " sharp in pain with no burning " , and the pain may last for several minutes . In the Starr sting pain scale , a scale which compares the overall pain of hymenopteran stings on a four @-@ point scale , Myrmecia stings were ranked from 2 – 3 in pain , described as " painful " or " sharply and seriously painful " . Unlike in honeybees , the sting lacks barbs , and so the stinger is not left in the area the ant has stung , allowing the ants to sting repeatedly without any harm to themselves . The retractable sting is located in their abdomen , attached to a single venom gland connected by the venom sac , which is where the venom is accumulated . Exocrine glands are known in some species , which produce the venom compounds later used to inject into their victims . Examined workers of larger species have long and very potent stingers , with some stings measuring 6 millimetres ( 0 @.@ 24 in ) . 
