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A black fly or blackfly [1] (sometimes called a buffalo gnat, turkey gnat, or white socks) is any member of the family Simuliidae of the Culicomorpha infraorder. It is related to the Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, and Thaumaleidae. Over 2,200 species of black flies have been formally named, of which 15 are extinct. [2]
Gnat from Robert Hooke's Micrographia, 1665 A female black fungus gnat. A gnat (/ ˈ n æ t /) is any of many species of tiny flying insects in the dipterid suborder Nematocera, especially those in the families Mycetophilidae, Anisopodidae and Sciaridae. [1] Most often they fly in large numbers, called clouds.
Gnat is a colloquialism for different kinds of tiny flying insects. These gnats you are seeing are called black flies. They are also known as buffalo gnats or turkey gnats.
Simuliidae-black flies and buffalo gnats; Ceratopogonidae-biting midges; Chironomidae-nonbiting midges; The monophyly of Culicomorpha and Culicoidea have been confirmed in subsequent morphological and molecular studies, but several studies have found Chironomoidea to be paraphyletic.
Ceratopogonidae is a family of flies commonly known as no-see-ums, sand flies or biting midges, generally 1–3 millimetres (1 ⁄ 16 – 1 ⁄ 8 in) in length. The family includes more than 5,000 species, [2] distributed worldwide, apart from the Antarctic and the Arctic.
Blackfly Larvae from United Arab Emirates. Simulium is a genus of black flies, which may transmit diseases such as onchocerciasis (river blindness).. It is a large genus with almost 2,000 species and 38 subgenera.
Most fungus gnats are weak fliers, and can often be seen walking rapidly over plants and soil, rather than flying. However, when airborne, the gnats may be quite annoying to humans by flying into their faces, eyes, and noses, both indoors and outdoors. [4] [5] These flies are sometimes confused with drain flies. [6]
Most fungus gnats (Sciaroidea excluding Cecidomyiidae) live in forests with their larvae occurring in fungi, dead wood and soil. There are some which live in wetlands such as fens . [ 4 ] Several genera of Sciaridae and Mycetophilidae may reach high abundances in damp buildings with wet organic matter.