Defensive (Now Dead) Polistes Versicolor

Back in 2009, I mentioned the "docile" yellow paper wasps that frequent our pool to get drinks of water, and how nearly "tame" they appeared.  Well, docile and tame doesn't mean intelligent... and when one of these girls decided to go exploring UNDER the green/yellow mesh of a pool floatie that I inflated today, she got herself STUCK under the mesh, and could not escape.

Somehow, due to change or probability, I did NOT sit in the floatie that contained the trapped wasp.  Doctor Desert Flower and I slathered ourselves with SPF 30 and 50 (respectively), made Cruzan rum drinks, and as DDF joined me in the pool... she Shrieked in Massive Pain as she sat in the floatie beside me!  "Something is stinging me!!!!!".  I looked... there was nothing visibly there.  DDF retreated into the house.  Fearing she might go anaphylactic, I wanted to identify the species of whatever MIGHT have stung her... and in the wet floatie, I found a wriggling Polistes Versicolor, legs (and stinger) pointed outwards, wings and back against the inside of the floatie. Urgh!

Lots of benedryl cream later, and monitoring for signs of severe reaction, we returned to the pool to resume a leisurely float with stinging subsided, wasp extracted, and alcohol ingested.   But BEWARE of the trapped yellow paper wasp...  they WILL sting, and it WILL Hurt, significantly - "like a hot metal poker stabbing into me" - yikes!  Now, before pool floatie use commences, all skin contact surfaces are checked for stinging creatures.  Clear!!!