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Summer is always a buggy time in the Big Apple, but recently even more so, thanks to a curious and very annoying influx of insects around the city this week.
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“Is there a gnat invasion in NYC? I felt/saw them in Chinatown, on the Manhattan bridge, in Dumbo. A guy just stopped me to ask about it so at least I know I’m not crazy,” New York-based writer Nina Roberts posted on Twitter, unleashing a thread of similarly critter-filled stories and videos from other locals.
But exactly what the hell are said bugs and where did they come from?
“They are not gnats (a kind of fly), but rather aphids, and there appears to be two species,” entomologist Dr. David Grimaldi, curator of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History, tells us. However, the doc is reticent to specify exactly which kind of gnats we’re currently working with, “since I haven’t examined them under a microscope and am away from NYC,” he says. “They may be native species or species that were introduced years ago (doubtfully recent).” Good news for you Jersey City and Hoboken folks, though: “We aren’t seeing swarms of them in northern NJ right now.”
Outside of being a nuisance and pretty gross, are the flies dangerous? Not particularly. “Aphids feed on the fluids of plants, such as tree leaves. They excrete little droplets of sugary secretions (called ‘honeydew’), which sustain ants and other insects (you see these droplets on your car when parked under a tree in summer),” Dr. Grimaldi added. If you don’t want to run into the bugs, steer clear of your local parks and green spaces, he suggests. “Given their numbers, these aphids are probably feeding from trees along sidewalks, in Central, Prospect, and other parks.”
We’re used to buggy warm-weather seasons in NYC, so why does the recent infestation seem so bad? Is it in any way tied to the local wildfires in Canada, which have been greatly affecting the air quality down here in New York? “I can’t see any plausible connection with wildfire smoke,” says Dr. Grimaldi. “Every species goes through population cycles over the years, and this might be a boom year for them, with a mild spring and then the rains and humid warmth.”
Hopefully, an end is in sight. Per the doc, ”local populations of each species tend to be synchronized in their development from wingless to alate morphs (not unlike cicadas), and the transition to winged forms is what we’re seeing.” Take those wings and fly away!