TAMPA — Jonathan Simkins is an expert in flying insects. He has a degree in entomology from the University of Florida, and has been working in the industry for more than 20 years.
Simkins is the owner of Insect I.Q. He travels all over Florida to deal with honey bees, Africanized bees, yellow jackets and other stinging insects.
Recently, he faced the challenge of his life. Simkins was called to a large, privately-owned tract of land in Central Florida to deal with a huge yellow jacket wasp nest.
“I have never seen a nest this large in my entire life,” said Simkins. “This is the prehistoric nest from the dinosaur ages.”
He says the nest was more than six and half feet tall, and eight feet wide. It may have contained more than a million insects.
“To put it into perspective, a nest we deal with on a day to day basis might have a thousand to five thousand,” Simkins said.
