Justin O. Schmidt, an entomologist created the Schmidt Pain Index after being stung by almost every type of bee, wasp and ant. This index compares the overall pain of Hymenopteran stings on a four-point scale.
1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm.
1.2 Fire Ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.
1.8 Bullhorn acacia ant: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.
2.0 Bald-faced hornet: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.
2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.
2.x Honey bee, Africanized bee and European hornet.
3.0 Red Harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.
3.0 Paper wasp: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of Hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.
4.0 Pepsis wasp: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair dryer has been dropped into your bubble bath (if you get stung by one you might as well lie down and scream). That would be our friend the Tarantula Hawk.
4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel.
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1 comment:
That's a great scale - tells me very clearly which insects to avoid the most:-)
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