Very good publication @agmoore, this is a somewhat complicated issue and with some controversy, as there will always be the side that will say that they do not feel pain and those who will say yes. The nervous system of insects is very different from ours or any mammal, so it is said that if they feel but not to the same degree as us, there may also be variants between insects, part of this is already reflected in some segments of the post. Another interesting thing is that they have a nerve cord formed by ganglia, so if they lose their heads the functions are assumed by these ganglia, so there are insects that can live for a while without head and die because they can not feed and so on, this is useful for some like mantids, as sometimes females remove the head of males in mating.

It is clear that they feel and therefore react to physical stimuli, the question would be to know to what extent they suffer, even caterpillars squirm when stung by ants. I have seen many entomologists in groups dedicated to sharing knowledge about insects debate on the subject, there are always divided opinions. I had read this post a few days ago, but today I come to comment. Hope all goes well, best regards @agmoore.