The spring is just around the corner now and I was thinking about another year of being stung by wasps and red ants and where they stand of the "ouch that really hurt” scale. Well there is actually a scale that deals with this. They say that the concept of pain and distress is personal, while the Schmidt Pain Index categorizes the least to the worst of the worst in insect stings. Justin Schmidt was an American entomologist back in the 1980’s and his work was around the order of insects. Most insects in the Hymenoptera order (order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants) have stinging capabilities. His pain scale ranges from one to four with “Level One” being the least painful (bees, twig ants) and “Level Four” being the most painful (tarantula hawk, bullet ant, warrior wasp), and a thorough account of the stinging sensation. For an example the sting from the velvet ant - the cow killer ant, is described as explosive and long lasting and that you sound insane as you scream or also described as - the sensation of hot oil from the deep fryer spilling all over your entire hand. For the common honey bee, hornets and most wasps the rating is two but the paper wasp is bumped up to a solid three.
Go Green Pest Control owner Randy Bilesky is a long-time South Delta resident. Trained and certified, Bilesky has first-hand knowledge of the pest problems that local homeowners and business owners encounter.
