Schmidt sting pain index

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Schmidt sting pain index
Schmidt - Filippo Turetta.jpg
Some species representing the Schmidt sting pain index: Synoeca surinama, Paraponera clavata , Pepsis sp., Hemipepsis sp., and Vespa mandarinia .
PurposeRates the pain of different stings

The Schmidt sting pain index is a pain scale rating the relative pain caused by different hymenopteran stings. It is mainly the work of Justin O. Schmidt, who was an entomologist at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Arizona. Schmidt published a number of works on the subject and claimed to have been stung by the majority of stinging Hymenoptera. [ citation needed ]

Contents

His original paper in 1983 was a way to systematize and compare the hemolytic properties of insect venoms. [1] A table contained in the paper included a column that rated sting pain, starting from 0 for stings that are completely ineffective against humans, progressing through 2, a familiar pain such as that caused by a common bee or wasp sting, and finishing at 4 for the most painful stings; in the original paper, only the bullet ant, Paraponera clavata , was given a rating of 4. Later revised versions of the index added Synoeca septentrionalis , along with tarantula hawks as the only species to share this ranking. Descriptions of the most painful examples were given, e.g.: "Paraponera clavata stings induced immediate, excruciating pain and numbness to pencil-point pressure, as well as trembling in the form of a totally uncontrollable urge to shake the affected part." [1]

Schmidt repeatedly refined his scale, including a paper published in 1990, which classifies the stings of 78 species and 41 genera of Hymenoptera, [2] and culminating in a book published in 2016. [3]

While Schmidt's published scientific papers use a 1 through 4 number scale, an entry in The Straight Dope reported that "implausibly exact numbers" such as "bullhorn acacia ant at 1.8" were "wheedled out of him" by Outside magazine for an article it published in 1996. [4]

In September 2015, Schmidt was co-awarded the Ig Nobel Physiology and Entomology prize with Michael Smith for their Hymenoptera research. [5]

Overview

Schmidt's pain scale of Hymenopteran stings is organized into levels, ranging between 1 and 4, with 4 being the most painful. However, insect stings that feel very different can be put into the same level. Thus, later versions of the scale always include a brief description of his experience being stung by each type of insect. [6]

Pain level 1

Some of the insect stings Schmidt considered to be at a pain level of 1 include the Southern fire ant, the graceful twig ant, the Western paper wasp, the urban digger bee, and most small bees. The duration of the pain of insect stings categorized into Pain Level 1 generally is five minutes or less. [2]

Many small bees are categorized into a pain level of 1, with their venom containing polypeptides such as melittin, apamin, and MCD peptide. Melittin is the main toxin of bee venom, and it damages red blood cells and white blood cells. Apamin is a neurotoxin that augments polysynaptic reflexes. MCD peptide destroys mast cells. [7]

Feeling only slight pain, Schmidt described the sting of an urban digger bee, categorized into pain level 1, as "almost pleasant, a lover just bit your earlobe a little too hard." [3] Also rated into pain level 1, Schmidt has described the sting of a sweat bee as "light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm." [3]

Pain level 2

Schmidt set the sting of the Western honey bee at a pain level of 2 to be the anchoring value, basing his categorization of all other stings on it. [6] He has categorized a variety of wasps, bees, and ants into pain level 2, including yellowjackets, the Asiatic honey bee, the trap-jaw ant, and the bald-faced hornet. The duration of the pain of the stings in this level is generally between five and ten minutes long. Schmidt categorized the majority of Hymenopteran stings as having a pain level of 2. [2]

The sting of a termite-raiding ant, categorized as a pain level of 2, has a similar feeling as "the debilitating pain of a migraine contained in the tip of your finger," according to Schmidt. [3] On the contrary, a yellowjacket's sting was described as being "hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine W. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue." [3] He also described the sting of the honeybee as a similar feeling to “The oven mitt had a hole in it when you pulled the cookies out of the oven.”

Pain level 3

Most insects that are characterized as having a pain level of 3 are wasps, including the neotropical red paper wasp, the red-headed paper wasp, and Klug's velvet ant (a wingless wasp and not a true ant). The duration of the sting pain can range anywhere from one minute (such as the sting of the red paper wasp) to half an hour (such as the sting of the velvet ant). [2] [3] Wasp venom uniquely contains kinin. One of the kinins found in wasp venom, "polistes kinin 3", is found to lead to similar effects on smooth musculature and circulation as bradykinin. [7]

Some ants are also rated at a pain level 3, including the giant bull ant and the Maricopa harvester ant. Schmidt considered the sting of the Maricopa harvester ant as having a pain level of 3, describing it as such: "After eight unrelenting hours of drilling into that ingrown toenail, you find the drill wedged into the toe." [3]

Pain level 4

Pain level 4 is the highest level in the Schmidt sting pain index. Schmidt's original index rated only one such example, the sting of the bullet ant, as a 4. [1] Schmidt described the sting as "pure, intense, brilliant pain...like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel." [3] The bullet ant's venom primarily contains poneratoxin, a paralyzing neurotoxic peptide. [8]

Schmidt later gave the sting of a tarantula hawk species, Pepsis grossa , [a] a rating of a 4, [2] which he described as "blinding, fierce [and] shockingly electric", [3] though the duration of pain from the sting is short-lived, lasting only approximately five minutes. [2] The composition of tarantula hawk venom is unknown. [9]

Schmidt also later rated the sting of Synoeca septentrionalis as a 4, describing it as "Torture. You are chained in the flow of an active volcano. Why did I start this list?", [3] saying the pain lasts up to two hours. [3]

Evolution from painful to toxic stings

The Schmidt sting pain index arose from the pursuit of a larger hypothesis: that the evolution of sociality in Hymenoptera was dependent on the evolution of venom that was both painful and toxic. [6] Pain is a signal of damage in the body, but molecules that produce pain and those that are toxic, and actively cause damage, are not the same. Although the painful signal acts as a deterrent, intelligent predators learn the dishonesty of this signal with repeated exposure – that there is no real damage being done. [3] For the early Hymenoptera that were primarily solitary, the pain alone would allow them the chance to escape. Furthermore, solitary insects do not provide a high energy reward for predators, and therefore predators do not expend significant effort to hunt them. However, with the evolution of sociality where many Hymenoptera cluster together in colonies, nests become a nutritionally rich and therefore worthwhile target. [10] If there were no defences, predators would devour the defenceless society, leaving few surviving individuals. [3] Sociality would therefore not be beneficial. In order for sociality to evolve, Hymenoptera needed a defence beyond a painful sting to protect their whole colony. Their sting was an advertisement of damage, and toxicity evolved as its truth. With a toxic sting, and thus the ability to protect against predators, Hymenoptera were able to progress towards sociality and its associated evolutionary benefits of the shared raising of youth, individual task specialization, inter-colony communication, and food storage. [10]

To approach studying this evolutionary connection between toxicity and sociality, Schmidt recognised there needed to be a quantitative measure with which to score the painfulness of stings. Assays for toxicity are already well characterized and can be quantified, but without the Schmidt sting pain index, there would be no way to relate the amount of sociality to the level of pain, and therefore this hypothesis could not have been studied. [11]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Reported under its synonym, P. formosa

Related Research Articles

While observers can easily confuse common wasps and bees at a distance or without close observation, there are many different characteristics of large bees and wasps that can be used to identify them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hornet</span> Genus of eusocial wasp

Hornets are the largest of the eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to yellowjackets, their close relatives. Some species can reach up to 5.5 cm (2.2 in) in length. They are distinguished from other vespine wasps by the relatively large top margin of the head. Worldwide, 22 species of Vespa are recognized. Most species only occur in the tropics of Asia, though the European hornet is widely distributed throughout Europe, Russia, North America, and north-eastern Asia. Wasps native to North America in the genus Dolichovespula are commonly referred to as hornets, but all of them are actually yellowjackets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Velvet ant</span> Family of wasps

Velvet ants (Mutillidae) are a family of more than 7,000 species of wasps whose wingless females resemble large, hairy ants. Their common name velvet ant refers to their resemblance to an ant, and their dense pile of hair, which most often is bright scarlet or orange, but may also be black, white, silver, or gold. Their bright colors serve as aposematic signals. They are known for their extremely painful stings,, and has resulted in the common name "cow killer" or "cow ant" being applied to the species Dasymutilla occidentalis. However, mutillids are not aggressive and sting only in defense. In addition, the actual toxicity of their venom is much lower than that of honey bees or harvester ants. Unlike true ants, they are solitary, and lack complex social systems.

<i>Paraponera clavata</i> Species of ant

Paraponera clavata, commonly known as the bullet ant, is a species of ant known for its extremely painful sting. It inhabits humid lowland rainforests in Central and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paper wasp</span> Vespid wasps that gather fibers from dead wood and plant stems

Paper wasps are a type of vespid wasps. The term is typically used to refer to members of the vespid subfamily Polistinae, though it often colloquially includes members of the subfamilies Vespinae and Stenogastrinae, which also make nests out of paper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarantula hawk</span> Common name for two genera of wasps

A tarantula hawk is a spider wasp (Pompilidae) that preys on tarantulas. Tarantula hawks belong to any of the many species in the genera Pepsis and Hemipepsis. They are one of the largest parasitoid wasps, using their sting to paralyze their prey before dragging it to a brood nest as living food; a single egg is laid on the prey, hatching to a larva which eats the still-living host. They are found on all continents other than Europe and Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spider wasp</span> Family of wasps

Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are kleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinger</span> Sharp organ capable of injecting venom

A stinger is a sharp organ found in various animals capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bee sting</span> Puncture wound caused by a bees stinger

A bee sting is the wound and pain caused by the stinger of a female bee puncturing skin. Bee stings differ from insect bites, with the venom of stinging insects having considerable chemical variation. The reaction of a person to a bee sting may vary according to the bee species. While bee stinger venom is slightly acidic and causes only mild pain in most people, allergic reactions may occur in people with allergies to venom components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poneratoxin</span> Paralyzing neurotoxic peptide

Poneratoxin is a paralyzing neurotoxic peptide made by the bullet ant Paraponera clavata. It prevents inactivation of voltage gated sodium channels and therefore blocks synaptic transmission in the central nervous system. Specifically, poneratoxin acts on voltage gated sodium channels in skeletal muscle fibers, causing paralysis, and nociceptive fibers, causing pain. It is rated as a 4 plus on the Schmidt sting pain index, the highest possible rating with that system, and its effects can cause waves of pain up to twelve hours after a single sting. It is additionally being studied for its uses in biological insecticides.

The Starr sting pain scale was created by the entomologist Christopher Starr as a scale to compare the overall pain of hymenopteran stings on a four-point scale, an expansion of the "pain index" originally created by Justin Schmidt. 1 is the lowest pain rating; 4 is the highest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin O. Schmidt</span> American entomologist (1947–2023)

Justin Orvel Schmidt was an American entomologist, co-author of Insect Defenses: Adaptive Mechanisms and Strategies of Prey and Predators, author of The Sting of the Wild, and creator of the Schmidt sting pain index. Schmidt studied honey bee nutrition, chemical communication, physiology, ecology and behavior at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona, before taking lead and devoting full-time to The Southwestern Biological Institute in 2006. As research director of the Southwest Biological Institute, he studied the chemical and behavioral defenses of ants, wasps, and arachnids.

<i>Dasymutilla</i> Genus of wasps

Dasymutilla is a wasp genus belonging to the family Mutillidae. Their larvae are external parasites to various types of ground-nesting Hymenoptera. Most of the velvet ants in North America—the wingless females of which are conspicuous as colorful, fast, and "fuzzy" bugs—are in the genus Dasymutilla.

Pompilidotoxins (PMTXs) are toxic substances that can only be found in the venom of several solitary wasps. This kind of wasp uses their venom to offensively capture prey and is relatively harmless to humans. This is in stark contrast to social insects that defend themselves and their colonies with their venom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wasp</span> Group of insects

A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthropod bites and stings</span> Medical condition

Many species of arthropods can bite or sting human beings. These bites and stings generally occur as a defense mechanism or during normal arthropod feeding. While most cases cause self-limited irritation, medically relevant complications include envenomation, allergic reactions, and transmission of vector-borne diseases.

<i>Monobia quadridens</i> Species of wasp

Monobia quadridens, also known as the four-toothed mason wasp, is a species of solitary potter wasp found in North America. It grows to a wingspan of 18 mm (0.71 in), and feeds on small caterpillars and pollen. Two generations occur per year, with one generation overwintering as pupae.

<i>Synoeca</i> Genus of wasps

Synoeca is a genus of eusocial paper wasps found in the tropical forests of the Americas. Commonly known as warrior wasps or drumming wasps, they are known for their aggressive behavior, a threat display consisting of multiple insects guarding a nest beating their wings in a synchronized fashion, and an extremely painful sting. The sting is barbed and if used often kills the wasp, which may be the reason why such a striking defensive display is used. This display escalates from drumming inside the nest to hundreds of wasps moving on to the envelope of the nest and continuing to drum. If this does not deter the threat only then do the wasps begin to sting.

<i>Hemipepsis ustulata</i> Species of wasp

Hemipepsis ustulata is a species of tarantula hawk wasp native to the Southwestern United States. Tarantula hawks are a large, conspicuous family of long-legged wasps that prey on tarantulas by using their long legs to grapple with their prey and then paralyze them with a powerful sting. They are solitary, displaying lekking territorial behavior in their mating rituals.

<i>Pepsis grossa</i> Species of wasp

Pepsis grossa is a very large species of pepsine spider wasp from the southern part of North America, south to northern South America. It preys on tarantula spiders, giving rise to the name tarantula hawk for the wasps in the genus Pepsis and the related Hemipepsis. Only the females hunt, so only they are capable of delivering a sting, which is considered the second most painful of any insect sting; scoring 4.0 on the Schmidt sting pain index compared to the bullet ant's 4.0+. It is the state insect of New Mexico. The colour morphs are the xanthic orange-winged form and the melanic black winged form. In northern South America, a third form, known as "lygamorphic", has a dark base to the wings which have dark amber median patches and a pale tip.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Schmidt, Justin O.; Blum, Murray S.; Overal, William L. (1983). "Hemolytic activities of stinging insect venoms". Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology. 1 (2): 155–160. doi:10.1002/arch.940010205.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Schmidt, Justin O. (1990). "Hymenoptera Venoms: Striving Toward the Ultimate Defense Against Vertebrates". In D. L. Evans; J. O. Schmidt (eds.). Insect Defenses: Adaptive Mechanisms and Strategies of Prey and Predators. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. pp. 387–419. ISBN   0-88706-896-0.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Schmidt, Justin (2016). The Sting of the Wild. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN   978-1-4214-1929-9.
  4. ↑ "Did the creator of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index volunteer to get stung by everything on earth?". The Straight Dope. 2012-05-11. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  5. ↑ Webb, Jonathan (18 September 2015). "'Universal urination duration' wins Ig Nobel prize". BBC News.
  6. 1 2 3 Steinberg, Avi (18 August 2016). "The Connoisseur of Pain". The New York Times Magazine.
  7. 1 2 Habermann, E. (28 July 1972). "Bee and Wasp Venoms". Science. 177 (4046): 314–322. Bibcode:1972Sci...177..314H. doi:10.1126/science.177.4046.314. PMID   4113805.
  8. ↑ Szolajska, Ewa; Poznanski, Jaroslaw; Ferber, Miguel López; Michalik, Joanna; Gout, Evelyne; Fender, Pascal; Bailly, Isabelle; Dublet, Bernard; Chroboczek, Jadwiga (2004). "Poneratoxin, a neurotoxin from ant venom". The FEBS Journal. 271 (11): 2127–2136. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.2004.04128.x . PMID   15153103.
  9. ↑ Schmidt, Justin O. (2004). "Venom and the Good Life in Tarantula Hawks (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): How to Eat, Not be Eaten, and Live Long". Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 77 (4): 402–413. doi:10.2317/E-39.1. JSTOR   25086231. S2CID   86401017.
  10. 1 2 Schmidt, Justin (22 March 2014). "Evolutionary responses of solitary and social Hymenoptera to predation by primates and overwhelmingly powerful vertebrate predators". Journal of Human Evolution. 71: 12–19. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.07.018. PMID   24666602.
  11. ↑ Conniff, Richard (10 August 2009). "Oh, Sting, Where Is Thy Death?". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 27 Jan 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2017.

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