insect illustrations

Break out the liquid Benadryl and unfurl those mosquito nets as summer rains bring pain in the form of bug bites.

Arizona is blessed with a bevy of beautiful and bothersome bugs that buzz round our mountains and bumble through our backyards.

A particular quartet of our local insects, herein dubbed the “fearsome four, ” can be especially agonizing – and even deadly – if you are unlucky enough to get bit.

Tarantula hawks

Claim to fame: Definitely their size, which is about the same as a hummingbird. They are also incredibly beautiful.

Injury capacity: Their stings may not kill, but folks say they surely feel like they do. One researcher quoted by Desert USA described the pain as feeling like “an electric wand that hits you, inducing an immediate, excruciating pain that simply shuts down one’s ability to do anything, except, perhaps, scream.”

Fun facts: Although their bright, orange-red wings are the same color as many artificially flavored candies, not many predators find them tasty. Roadrunners are one of the few that bother eating these things. The wasps get their names from laying their eggs in and then consuming whole tarantulas. They are also known to eat fermented fruit, which makes them zigzag drunkenly through the air.

[Read more…] about Bug bite season: Most beautiful and painful insects in AZ – with fun illustrations