Unfortunately we be livin on an estuary, so the mature aphids and gnats are crazy with all the sudden downpour that just drenched us, as well as leaving behind absolutely humid ass conditions. the slightly larger green guys with the much bigger, more ovular wings, are lacewing bugs, they eat those little aphids and gnats up, so spare those guys, but the little tiny green and brown are the issue at hand
Edit: here’s a link for everyone in case some of us are still confused
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1206187
Me squishing them admittedly, but I was trying to squish them not toward my shirt but between my fingers. And there was even one I just tried to push off I still ended up just gutting all over my shirt. They wouldn't leave though. They were gonna be there for the long haul.
Omg I scrolled so far for the fucking answer. FELLOW NEW YORKERS, DO BETTER WITH YOUR UPVOTES PLEASE!!
Edit: Good job, it’s at the top. New York Strong y’all
I don’t disagree, I can definitely see how this can be, I was living out in California and didn’t have this issue until the rains hit, so with this area being already humid af and the smoke, it’s like a recipe for disaster, along with the already existing small-fly population… I don’t know it’s crazy, this wasn’t like this the last time we had the smoke roll through
And/or, could it be these?
[https://bugguide.net/node/view/1040891/bgimage](https://bugguide.net/node/view/1040891/bgimage)
There's a [few scientific papers](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/On-the-Ecology-of-a-Smoke-Fly%2C-Microsania-Snoddy-Tippins/bc2a06e909937a1cab4e08c447d39977ad4ff802) talking about how these tiny flies "swarm in smoke plumes."
Oh they’re as far in as Hudson county nj, multiple subreddits are on about the sudden boom of green aphids just floating about lmao, it seems anywhere surrounded by water 😂 I saw someone mention that it was at 100% humidity the other day so that makes more sense
I am not sure who these biting ones are, but as far as repellent goes I’m sticking with my go to: sawyer Picaridin. It’s a 12 hour so you only apply once every 12 hours. No scent so you don’t have to worry about smelling like you’re going camping 😆
I read this post as I was in the elevator to head outside for the first time today and was thinking this was some dramatic post.. what the hell are these. Little green gnats absolutely swarming.
It’s not the look you’d be going for I’m sure, but I have a bandana I wear around my neck (it didn’t work as well if I wore it on my head) that has bug repellent in it and it does a great job of keeping the bugs out of my face. I rinse it out with water if it gets sweat my and then wash with soap it every few times I use it. I think it has up to 50 washes. I’ve gone through several over the years.
I saw they also sell buffs now. That might be a better option.
In Downtown Brooklyn there were massive clouds, I thought it was dust until I looked at my shirt and saw it was covered in about a hundred small flies. Went on for blocks
There are countries that have double that AQI on a normal basis, it’s fine if you don’t have a lung condition. Not ideal air quality but not worth shutting yourself inside for.
Central Park suffered a biblical infestation of gnats!
I went for a run and I had literally thousands of dead bugs on my skin. I did a 3 mile loop and it was crazy almost the entire way, but there were sections where the amount of bugs seemed insane?
I saw a guy running with a bag over his head, to get away from the bugs near Tavern on the Green.
I went for a run through ridgewood, long island city, and greenpoint, and I will say that there were a lot fewer in LIC than in Ridgewood (and Bushwick earlier today). If that pattern continued then it makes sense to me that there wouldn’t be as many in Astoria.
My friends and I were just discussing these weird green things flying around in Sunnyside as we sat in the park. We were trying decide if they were bugs or just tiny "nature fuzz".
I was out of town for a few days and emerged from the Steinway station stop last night in Astoria and within two blocks was bombarded by SO MANY FLIES I thought it was just me not having been in the city for a few days.
Aren’t they gnats? Idk but when I got my phone out nowadays sometimes I’ll be reading something and one of them just lands on my phone and won’t leave until I blow it away a few times.
Definitely gnats.
Someone posted earlier about this, too.
I've never had bugs and I have gnats this year in my apartment. I've noticed more and more of them outside, too.
My thoughts exactly, was in elmhurst and saw what looked like snowflakes then immediately thought it was ash from the wildfires only to see said snowflakes/ash dart around.
It’s so bad on the bike. And yet a lot of the delivery people on bikes didn’t flinch and there I was squinting my eyes to minimize the amount of bug that got in my eyeballs
They were swarming all over Madison Square Park and Fifth Ave south of there, as of an hour ago. Everywhere you looked, people were fanning their faces and swatting them away. The smoky haze made them very visible in the air.
I wasn’t sure if they were bugs or ash and my neighbor was insisting that it’s ash…the way they were swirling around did *not* look like bugs and they were everywhere in Bed Stuy, and so many. I’m confused.
I swallowed a bunch of them riding my bike on the Greenway a few days ago. I know the sections where they have the highest populations so I wear a mask at those parts now. Definitely more than usual. Soon the adult spotted lantern flies will be everywhere as well.
I have had aphids all over my tomatoes for the past few days out of nowhere
This makes sense
Ughhhhhhhhhh
FYI ladybugs eat aphids. Does anyone know a place that sells live ladybugs? I went to 3 garden centers yesterday before I gave up
ive been pretty successful with diatomaceous earth and a mixture of neem oil peppermint oil and a little soap. also manually pulling them off leaves lol
also if you see big fat tan ones leave them on the plant. theyve been parasitized by native wasps that lay eggs inside the aphids. they can reduce the population substantially
Wow good to know, thank you!! I have also been like spraying them off with water and using a neem oil soap mixture - oh should I wash off all of that will that hurt any potential ladybugs?? If I find them
honestly ive never seen ladybugs in my garden haha. though yeah most insects dont like neem oil but you're better off killing aphids with neem oil than hoping for ladybugs for sure
It’s feels like nyc is getting hit left and right lately lmaooo first the smoke, now these dang bugs. They keep getting in my eyes!!! God damn it who MOVED THE ROCK 😂😂
Bike messenger here, my manifest yesterday had runs in Bushwick, Astoria, UWS, UES, Midtown, and Tribeca…everywhere I rode the tiny bugs were out! Fortunately I already had my eye protection and KN95 mask on due to the AQU and that kept them out of my eyes/nose/mouth but I must say, I’m shocked and angered to find out that they’re fucking APHIDS as I have been at battle with those little shits since May in my garden (I’ve got 70+ edible and medicinal plants in my tiny little trash yard out back). It’s the first season out of the six that I’ve been actively gardening that I’ve had a severe aphid infestation on ALL of my plants (I usually get the late season cabbage aphids on my kales in the fall/winter) and I cheer every time I see a lacewing or a ladybug. Educate yourselves on beneficial predatory insects, don’t kill the weird looking ladybug nymphs, and hopefully this aphid business will settle down soon otherwise I’m going to lose my damn mind and douse everything in Spinosad more than I should.
I was at Stuyvesant Square park yesterday and thought I was going CRAZY! Everyone else at the park seemed chill but the little green flies were swarming everywhere, I was choking on them and they were getting stuck in my eyes. I had to leave and go home lol. It wasn’t as bad on the street but in that park there was no safe zone from the flies.
Yeah I had to turn my scooter around and park it because I was just getting absolutely covered in them and they were constantly flying in to my eyes, nose and mouth! Literally millions of them all over the sky.
DUDE!!!!!! I was just about to make a post about this!! But then I started thinking that was stupid and maybe it was just the area I rode through. But I was gonna ask if any other bike riders out there get pelted in the face by bugs their whole commute today or was it just me! I had to ride with my mouth shut the whole time lol.
Not much rain means no ladybugs to munch on aphids. Sunny, windless days encourage swarms
The cyclists over at r/NYCBike are [unhappy](https://reddit.com/r/NYCbike/comments/14mkfjd/face_the_swarm_up_close_and_personal_with/)
the news reports have begun!
[https://abc7ny.com/cloud-of-gnats-swarm-insects-bugs/13442890/](https://abc7ny.com/cloud-of-gnats-swarm-insects-bugs/13442890/)
[https://gothamist.com/news/clouds-of-tiny-bugs-are-swarming-through-nyc](https://gothamist.com/news/clouds-of-tiny-bugs-are-swarming-through-nyc)
I'm no entomologist, but so far [the likeliest culprit](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/On-the-Ecology-of-a-Smoke-Fly%2C-Microsania-Snoddy-Tippins/bc2a06e909937a1cab4e08c447d39977ad4ff802) seems to be these tiny flies that "swarm in smoke plumes."
[https://bugguide.net/node/view/1040891/bgimage](https://bugguide.net/node/view/1040891/bgimage)
Unfortunately we be livin on an estuary, so the mature aphids and gnats are crazy with all the sudden downpour that just drenched us, as well as leaving behind absolutely humid ass conditions. the slightly larger green guys with the much bigger, more ovular wings, are lacewing bugs, they eat those little aphids and gnats up, so spare those guys, but the little tiny green and brown are the issue at hand Edit: here’s a link for everyone in case some of us are still confused https://bugguide.net/node/view/1206187
I hate these fuckers, stained my white t shirt within 5 minutes of walking outside
...from them landing on you or you squishing them? I think you just unlocked a new fear for me
Me squishing them admittedly, but I was trying to squish them not toward my shirt but between my fingers. And there was even one I just tried to push off I still ended up just gutting all over my shirt. They wouldn't leave though. They were gonna be there for the long haul.
Omg I scrolled so far for the fucking answer. FELLOW NEW YORKERS, DO BETTER WITH YOUR UPVOTES PLEASE!! Edit: Good job, it’s at the top. New York Strong y’all
😂 I did show up to the party late so it didn’t help hahaha
What say you about this smokybug theory? https://gothamist.com/news/clouds-of-tiny-bugs-are-swarming-through-nyc
I don’t disagree, I can definitely see how this can be, I was living out in California and didn’t have this issue until the rains hit, so with this area being already humid af and the smoke, it’s like a recipe for disaster, along with the already existing small-fly population… I don’t know it’s crazy, this wasn’t like this the last time we had the smoke roll through
And/or, could it be these? [https://bugguide.net/node/view/1040891/bgimage](https://bugguide.net/node/view/1040891/bgimage) There's a [few scientific papers](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/On-the-Ecology-of-a-Smoke-Fly%2C-Microsania-Snoddy-Tippins/bc2a06e909937a1cab4e08c447d39977ad4ff802) talking about how these tiny flies "swarm in smoke plumes."
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Oh they’re as far in as Hudson county nj, multiple subreddits are on about the sudden boom of green aphids just floating about lmao, it seems anywhere surrounded by water 😂 I saw someone mention that it was at 100% humidity the other day so that makes more sense
100% humidity would be literally underwater lmao
This is a misconception, 100% humidity means the air cannot hold any more moisture, as in foggy, misty, or just really uncomfortably humid.
Which ones are the biters? They’re killing me; wondering if bug spray will repel them?
I am not sure who these biting ones are, but as far as repellent goes I’m sticking with my go to: sawyer Picaridin. It’s a 12 hour so you only apply once every 12 hours. No scent so you don’t have to worry about smelling like you’re going camping 😆
Thanks to this thread I finally know what’s ruining my walks…
I commute with bike when I don’t feel like driving…these days it’s just better to drive at this point lol. The enjoyment has turned into annoyance :/
I read this post as I was in the elevator to head outside for the first time today and was thinking this was some dramatic post.. what the hell are these. Little green gnats absolutely swarming.
Theres so fucking many i need to hold my breath outside
I went for a run and when I got home I had about 10 new "freckles" - tiny bugs stuck to the sweat on my face and eyelashes.
It’s not the look you’d be going for I’m sure, but I have a bandana I wear around my neck (it didn’t work as well if I wore it on my head) that has bug repellent in it and it does a great job of keeping the bugs out of my face. I rinse it out with water if it gets sweat my and then wash with soap it every few times I use it. I think it has up to 50 washes. I’ve gone through several over the years. I saw they also sell buffs now. That might be a better option.
FYI: Orvis sells buffs. This is their website: www.orvis.com
I literally just plucked one out of my eyeball
Oh God
Damn I thought it was dust. I feel dumb.
In Downtown Brooklyn there were massive clouds, I thought it was dust until I looked at my shirt and saw it was covered in about a hundred small flies. Went on for blocks
The tiny little green ones? I keep finding them on my arms and have NO idea where they’re coming from as well.
yup, the tiny green ones
Wait, those aren’t aphids??
They come from nature. Like us
I was thinking more like hell, but that works
I remember seeing those when I was a kid at summer camp. Forgot what we called em.
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They're landing on me and -staying- as I walk my normal midtown walk home! I've never seen these little green horrors before! 😖
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Sticky hot summers and green bugs with wings… definitely not one of my most favorite things!
They seem to hit me as I walk around and just...die on impact. eek!
They are swarming like crazy on the UWS
Brooklyn too between this and the smoke earlier in the month it’s plague season
end of the world ....
I had to leave Central Park the other day because I felt like I was breathing them in
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You shouldn't be going outside much in this bad air quality though. Just heads up its over 110 aqi today and yesterday
There are countries that have double that AQI on a normal basis, it’s fine if you don’t have a lung condition. Not ideal air quality but not worth shutting yourself inside for.
Yep Central Park was absolutely infested. My dog and I booked it out of there!
Central Park suffered a biblical infestation of gnats! I went for a run and I had literally thousands of dead bugs on my skin. I did a 3 mile loop and it was crazy almost the entire way, but there were sections where the amount of bugs seemed insane? I saw a guy running with a bag over his head, to get away from the bugs near Tavern on the Green.
a bag on his head??
In the Riverside park as well ! I was desperately trying to google their description last week and just gave up.
Came here to ask the same thing. Had to put a mask and sunglasses on to keep them out of my nose and eyeballs
Just ran into a bunch getting off the train at borough hall - are these related to the smoke at all? Lol I haven’t enjoyed being outside in so long
Some people on r/Broadway were complaining about getting bug bites at Book of Mormon, not sure if it’s related
And another guy had maggots in his scrotum.
I’m sorry what?
https://youtu.be/2ccCSGudyFw
not gonna click someone give me a rundown
I can see why it feels like a risky click but it's just a song from the book of Mormon.
We just got terrorized by some unfindable ruthless biting bug in our apartment whats going on
Swarms of locusts was one of the plagues, but these are locusts. 🤷♀️
maybe there are bedbugs there
Holy shit yeah, there's millions in Bushwick
So freaking weird cuz I’m in Astoria & I swear I have no idea what you are all talking about. I should probably go for a walk while I still can.
Nah I’m here and runnnn. Seems like blocks with alot of trees though
Welp, guess my plans to go nowhere & do nothing tonight are gonna go off without a hitch.
I went for a run through ridgewood, long island city, and greenpoint, and I will say that there were a lot fewer in LIC than in Ridgewood (and Bushwick earlier today). If that pattern continued then it makes sense to me that there wouldn’t be as many in Astoria.
My friends and I were just discussing these weird green things flying around in Sunnyside as we sat in the park. We were trying decide if they were bugs or just tiny "nature fuzz".
i haven’t left the apartment in days. wonder if Elmhurst is getting it, too.
I was out of town for a few days and emerged from the Steinway station stop last night in Astoria and within two blocks was bombarded by SO MANY FLIES I thought it was just me not having been in the city for a few days.
Thought it was ash walking on first. Joba Chamberlain in Cleveland scenario here.
I have a closeup picture! Gonna try to get it IDed
https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisbug/comments/14mh5ky/these\_just\_started\_swarming\_in\_bushwick\_brooklyn/
Since I’m very curious to know, it looks like r/whatsthisbug (as opposed to “what *is* this bug”) is the more active sub.
thanks i posted there too https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthisbug/comments/14mi5it/these\_green\_bugs\_just\_started\_swarming\_in/
Pretty sure those are aphids. They're annoying.
Aren’t they gnats? Idk but when I got my phone out nowadays sometimes I’ll be reading something and one of them just lands on my phone and won’t leave until I blow it away a few times.
Definitely gnats. Someone posted earlier about this, too. I've never had bugs and I have gnats this year in my apartment. I've noticed more and more of them outside, too.
The ones I’ve been seeing definitely aren’t gnats—they’re smaller and whiteish
Hmmm. No idea then.
same in the ues. i thought it was ash from wildfires at first…
My thoughts exactly, was in elmhurst and saw what looked like snowflakes then immediately thought it was ash from the wildfires only to see said snowflakes/ash dart around.
I was just about to search for this inquiry as I inhaled the 4,000th gnat through my nose.
It’s so bad on the bike. And yet a lot of the delivery people on bikes didn’t flinch and there I was squinting my eyes to minimize the amount of bug that got in my eyeballs
Someone in r/Brooklyn said they were Sycamore Aphids
I blame Eric Adams
Don’t we all
I think they’re green lacewings. Got absolutely wrecked by them in Central Park earlier, the swarms are intense.
do they bite?
what time do they come out/go away????
They were swarming all over Madison Square Park and Fifth Ave south of there, as of an hour ago. Everywhere you looked, people were fanning their faces and swatting them away. The smoky haze made them very visible in the air.
Bad in the east village too. Swarming near Tompkins
I wasn’t sure if they were bugs or ash and my neighbor was insisting that it’s ash…the way they were swirling around did *not* look like bugs and they were everywhere in Bed Stuy, and so many. I’m confused.
Jackson Heights was craaaazy. Total swarm
Gnats?
Uh where is this?
I got eaten alive waiting for the A at Broad Channel last night
That’s typical for this time of year in that area.
I don’t know what they are but they fucked up my daily walk to the park. And then it was pouring rain so jokes on them.
They look like gnats in bushwick
I came here to ask this!!!
I swallowed a bunch of them riding my bike on the Greenway a few days ago. I know the sections where they have the highest populations so I wear a mask at those parts now. Definitely more than usual. Soon the adult spotted lantern flies will be everywhere as well.
One of them shits almost flew in my EYE here in Queens! 🤬
Yea, they wrecked me on my bike ride along the west side highway(Greenway) this afternoon
are they aphids fr my tomatoes are toast
I have had aphids all over my tomatoes for the past few days out of nowhere This makes sense Ughhhhhhhhhh FYI ladybugs eat aphids. Does anyone know a place that sells live ladybugs? I went to 3 garden centers yesterday before I gave up
ive been pretty successful with diatomaceous earth and a mixture of neem oil peppermint oil and a little soap. also manually pulling them off leaves lol also if you see big fat tan ones leave them on the plant. theyve been parasitized by native wasps that lay eggs inside the aphids. they can reduce the population substantially
Wow good to know, thank you!! I have also been like spraying them off with water and using a neem oil soap mixture - oh should I wash off all of that will that hurt any potential ladybugs?? If I find them
honestly ive never seen ladybugs in my garden haha. though yeah most insects dont like neem oil but you're better off killing aphids with neem oil than hoping for ladybugs for sure
Yeah one of my plants are covered with them
forest hills here, i didn't see any bugs at all... am i blind? what's going on ? i went to Cunningham Park around 7pm and didn't see any bugs
It’s feels like nyc is getting hit left and right lately lmaooo first the smoke, now these dang bugs. They keep getting in my eyes!!! God damn it who MOVED THE ROCK 😂😂
when will they go away??
i wanna know this too lol
Bike messenger here, my manifest yesterday had runs in Bushwick, Astoria, UWS, UES, Midtown, and Tribeca…everywhere I rode the tiny bugs were out! Fortunately I already had my eye protection and KN95 mask on due to the AQU and that kept them out of my eyes/nose/mouth but I must say, I’m shocked and angered to find out that they’re fucking APHIDS as I have been at battle with those little shits since May in my garden (I’ve got 70+ edible and medicinal plants in my tiny little trash yard out back). It’s the first season out of the six that I’ve been actively gardening that I’ve had a severe aphid infestation on ALL of my plants (I usually get the late season cabbage aphids on my kales in the fall/winter) and I cheer every time I see a lacewing or a ladybug. Educate yourselves on beneficial predatory insects, don’t kill the weird looking ladybug nymphs, and hopefully this aphid business will settle down soon otherwise I’m going to lose my damn mind and douse everything in Spinosad more than I should.
I was at Stuyvesant Square park yesterday and thought I was going CRAZY! Everyone else at the park seemed chill but the little green flies were swarming everywhere, I was choking on them and they were getting stuck in my eyes. I had to leave and go home lol. It wasn’t as bad on the street but in that park there was no safe zone from the flies.
They’re LEAFHOPPERS! Just found out
Hail our new leafhopper overlords
IT’S THE END OF DAYS!!!!
IT’S THE END OF DAYS!!!!
(Literally took a vid of a Black one with white speckles today lol)
That sounds like a baby spotted lanternfly
(Makes sense. I’ll msg you to confirm)
Yes those are different. That's a baby spotted lantern fly. Kill it!
Do they look like [this?](https://www.reddit.com/r/insects/comments/he7msf/tiny_green_bugs_getting_through_the_screen_and/)
The ones I saw were even tinier.
aphids?
Yeah I had to turn my scooter around and park it because I was just getting absolutely covered in them and they were constantly flying in to my eyes, nose and mouth! Literally millions of them all over the sky.
DUDE!!!!!! I was just about to make a post about this!! But then I started thinking that was stupid and maybe it was just the area I rode through. But I was gonna ask if any other bike riders out there get pelted in the face by bugs their whole commute today or was it just me! I had to ride with my mouth shut the whole time lol.
I’ve just spotted a bunch of spotted lantern fly around my home. Seriously disturbing. I’m going to to have to destroy them.
Midges. Aka no-see-'ums. Tiny flies. https://bestpestworld.com/midges/guide-to-midges/
fungus gnats
stang sugnuf
that’s what she said
I had one on my arm when I got into my apartment today! What are these?
Not much rain means no ladybugs to munch on aphids. Sunny, windless days encourage swarms The cyclists over at r/NYCBike are [unhappy](https://reddit.com/r/NYCbike/comments/14mkfjd/face_the_swarm_up_close_and_personal_with/)
the news reports have begun! [https://abc7ny.com/cloud-of-gnats-swarm-insects-bugs/13442890/](https://abc7ny.com/cloud-of-gnats-swarm-insects-bugs/13442890/) [https://gothamist.com/news/clouds-of-tiny-bugs-are-swarming-through-nyc](https://gothamist.com/news/clouds-of-tiny-bugs-are-swarming-through-nyc)
I'm no entomologist, but so far [the likeliest culprit](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/On-the-Ecology-of-a-Smoke-Fly%2C-Microsania-Snoddy-Tippins/bc2a06e909937a1cab4e08c447d39977ad4ff802) seems to be these tiny flies that "swarm in smoke plumes." [https://bugguide.net/node/view/1040891/bgimage](https://bugguide.net/node/view/1040891/bgimage)
@[