re: stinging hazard from cicada killers
 
The wasps really aren't aggressive. I've never heard of anyone being stung
by one.  Last year I had a class of 8 or 9 students in the midst of an
aggregation of literally hundreds of similar wasps on a beach in Costa Rica,
and once they (the students) overcame their nervousness, they had a great
time.  It would take an extemely fleet-footed child to step on one, and only
then and only if barefoot is one likely to be stung.  The only realistic chance
of being stung I can think of is to catch one and then be stung handling it.
The venom has not been selected for pain in vertebrates (as in social stinging
species), so the reaction to a sting could be different, including briefer,
than that to the sting of a social species.  It could still hurt, though.
 
Jim Hunt (c4926@UMSLVMA)