Tiny Bugs Swarm New York City Amidst Canada Wildfire Smoke

What’s bugging New York City (NYC) these days? Well, certainly Canadian wildfire smoke is a problem, once again, as more and more smoke migrated Southward from the burning infernos in Central Canada. On Friday, the Air Quality Index (AQI) topped 150, placing it in the “unhealthy” level and giving NYC the second worst air quality in the World. But there also was what looked like an aphid David problem. And an aphid Jeremy problem, an aphid Tyler problem, an aphid Mark problem, an aphid Susan problem, an aphid Debbie problem, and an aphid whatever-your-name-is problem in the Big Apple.

That’s because many parts of NYC seemed to be swarming with tiny little flying bugs on Friday. For example, Jeremy Cohen, a photographer who describes himself as lancing freely on his website, found himself not so bug-free while biking in NYC, as you can see in this June 29 tweet from him:

And Tyler Donaghy, who describes himself as a sustainability coordinator in his Twitter bio, found a seemingly not-so-sustainable bug situation in Brooklyn:

It’s not so sustainable if you happen to not like tiny bugs flying into your mouth and eyes.

So what kinds of bugs were these? Well, people were tossing out insect names on social media, seemingly at a drop of a gnat. Both Cohen and Donaghy mentioned the word gnats. And so were a lot of people on social media. But were these tiny flying insects truly gnats? Or was this like mistaking Ed Sheeran for Prince Harry—not that either should be mistaken for gnats?

It’s easy to use the word “gnat” when something is very small and annoying. Gnats are actually a specific designation encompassing multiple different species of tiny flying insects that fall into the Nematocera suborder. Calling someone Nematocera would not be the same things as greeting that person with a “Namaste.” In fact, gnats are the opposite of Namaste. They can be very annoying, forming swarm clouds and being attracted to fluids that are secreted by your eyes. All of this can cause some real “eye caramba” situations.

But that’s not all or gnat all. Gnats can really bite, both figuratively and literally. They can use their little teeth to cut through your skin and suck your blood. Only the females suck in such as way as the males tend to focus on plant nectar instead. Such bites can lead to itchiness, irritation, redness and swelling around the area and in some cases lead to more severe allergic reactions. Scratching such areas can create open sores that in turn can get infected by various types of bacteria.

All of that sounds gnat bad for NYC. But various insect experts disagreed with the gnatty assessment, according to Andrew Siff, the Associated Press and NBC News New York and Jesse Zanger reporting for CBS News New York. Experts thought instead that these tiny insects in NYC actually looked like aphids, based on the photos and videos being shared on social media.

Now, while aphids can be annoying as well, they do not pose the same health risk as gnats do, assuming that you aren’t a piece of cabbage, broccoli, bok choi, or an actual big apple. However, if you are indeed plant, aphids can really suck. They like sucking sap and other nutrient-rich fluids from plants. This can damage and weaken plants, wreaking havoc in fruit and vegetable gardens. So, it’s not great to have aphids around, especially if you are a gardener.

It’s not surprising that people are confusing aphids for gnats. Aphids don’t typically introduce themselves by saying, “Hi, I’m an aphid. Here’s my LinkedIn profile.” It can be difficult to pick out any distinguishing features for aphids when you aren’t carrying around a magnifying lens. Adult aphids are typically less than quarter-inch and their pear-shaped bodies can come in variety of different colors, such as white, black, brown, gray, yellow, light green, or pink. So let’s gnat blame people for mislabeling these swarms of insects in NYC.

So why are there seemingly so many aphids in NYC now? Well, the warmer weather over the Winter and the early segue into warmer months may have had something to do with it. Aphids do like heat and humidity. And they like it hot and heavy in other ways too. Aphids are really good at sex. Female aphids mature very quickly and can breed extensively. This can help aphid populations expand very quickly.

Welcome to the world of climate change. Warmer weather conditions have likely left brush and other vegetation in Canada more apt to catching fire, hence the wildfires. It also may leave a lot of insects more hot and bothered over the coming years, so to speak. And all of that may leave humans a lot more hot and bothered, but not in a good way.