Biting Insects of Ireland

Wade in the Sea

Got bitten by fleas in South Africa. No ruined by fleas. In fairness I am feasted upon by everything with six/eight legs. I am going with the vodka idea for the moment.:)

Sappy404

Hi folks, I got bitten on the wrist earlier on today by some kind of fly. The weird thing is, when I noticed it I blew at it but it seemed to be stuck to my skin at one end! I had to pull it off, and then noticed my wrist was bleeding.

A bit of Googling and I think it was a horsefly, but I'm not sure if they usually stick into the skin or cause a wound to bleed afterwards as I'm not usually prone to bites. Is this normal?

Wade in the Sea

Sappy404 wrote: »

Hi folks, I got bitten on the wrist earlier on today by some kind of fly. The weird thing is, when I noticed it I blew at it but it seemed to be stuck to my skin at one end! I had to pull it off, and then noticed my wrist was bleeding.

A bit of Googling and I think it was a horsefly, but I'm not sure if they usually stick into the skin or cause a wound to bleed afterwards as I'm not usually prone to bites. Is this normal?

Yep, that's a clegg or horsefly. Nasty little fellas those. Well actually it's the female that bites.

Mothman

recedite wrote: »

I was under the impression that any mozzies we had here in the past were blown in on a southeasterly breeze from the Continent in the summer, and died off in the winter? Is that correct Mothman? you who knows these things. I know there are various species but I refer to the laymans "mosquitoe" which is the large slow moving, buzzing and biting creature.
Either way, it seems with global warming we are going to see a lot more of them.

See a post I did couple years back

Alun

Mothman wrote: »

See a post I did couple years back

It's worth adding that in the flat marshy estuary areas of south eastern England (East Anglia in particular) mosquitoes and malaria (albeit a milder variant) were prevalent in the 15th century, but continued to be a problem right through to the late 1800's when steps were taken to eradicate it, although there are suggestions that some cases might still have been occurring until after the first world war.

Wade in the Sea

Alun wrote: »

It's worth adding that in the flat marshy estuary areas of south eastern England (East Anglia in particular) mosquitoes and malaria (albeit a milder variant) were prevalent in the 15th century, but continued to be a problem right through to the late 1800's when steps were taken to eradicate it, although there are suggestions that some cases might still have been occurring until after the first world war.

That just reminded me of something that I recalled hearing many years ago but was never sure if it was true. That Oliver Cromwell died from Malaria contracted in Ireland. Of course this is often dimissed as something the RC Church made up but then I found this below. A rather cack-handed ortopsy was performed by a guy called Bates whose findings were that he died suffering from a number of illness but Malaria was one:

"So what killed Cromwell? Most biographers and historians have concluded that during the 1650s Cromwell suffered from a recurrent, malarial-type disease and that this was the principal or sole cause of his final illness and death in 1658. In the seventeenth century, a form of malaria was quite common in damp, lowland areas of northern Europe, including parts of Britain and Ireland; for example, it was present in the fenlands of East Anglia. This was a milder form of malaria than that still found in many hotter, tropical or sub-tropical parts of the world, and it did not cause death on such a large scale, though it could and did carry off the old and the weak. It was noted at the time that many of the troops sent over to reconquer Ireland from 1649 onwards succumbed to the ‘country sickness’ or the ‘ague’, a recurrent fever-based illness. Most biographers and historians have concluded that Cromwell was one of them, and that his illness of late 1649 while in Ireland marked the onset of the disease."

ender ender

I saw a program about epidemics and the like on RTE a few years back, in which they said that certain conditions in estuaries in England (a certain level of salinity and temperature) can still sometimes create the right conditions for malaria to form. Worrying...

Whatever those tiny things that you find in the west are - midges or sand flies or whatever - they're the worst IMO. Rarely get bitten here in Dublin but any time I go to Kerry or Connemara I get eaten alive...

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

ender ender wrote: »

I saw a program about epidemics and the like on RTE a few years back, in which they said that certain conditions in estuaries in England (a certain level of salinity and temperature) can still sometimes create the right conditions for malaria to form. Worrying....

Malaria is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium (phylum Apicomplexa) carried by mosqitos. But they have to pick it up from infected blood first. It has nothing to do with salinity or temperature. It is extremely unlikely that malaria will re-establish itself since few people harbour the right sort of malaria parasites in their blood, and even those who do are likely to fall sick quickly and be treated with antimalarials, killing any parasites in the blood. The chances of being bitten by an infective mosquito are rather remote.

ender ender

My bad, they were talking about the plague, or at least a type of bacteria related to the one that caused the plague...

Alliandre

Can anyone tell me if greenfly bite? I remember being fairly sure I got bitten by one when I was a child, but nobody believed me.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

No! Their mouth parts are not designed, nor indeed strong enough, to bite you.

recedite

Alliandre wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if greenfly bite? I remember being fairly sure I got bitten by one when I was a child, but nobody believed me.

Not unless you're a sap.

littlebug

I don't usually get bitten much but got a nice bite off an ant like creature (which may have been an ant ) yesterday.
It's different if we're out on the islands (Aran) we all get bitten by something that leaves nice itchy hives for days. Whatever it is I haven't seen it yet. Ticks also seem to like us but again only when we're on the island.

littlebug

Charlotte Agreeable Tick wrote: »

are you thinking of the Daddy Long Legs Spider perhaps?

Oh hang on.... do they bite?

Sam Kade

Alliandre wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if greenfly bite? I remember being fairly sure I got bitten by one when I was a child, but nobody believed me.

If you are a carrot yes

fryup

Alliandre wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if greenfly bite? I remember being fairly sure I got bitten by one when I was a child, but nobody believed me.

Charlotte Agreeable Tick wrote: »

No! Their mouth parts are not designed, nor indeed strong enough, to bite you.

are you sure, cause last week some sort of tiny green incect bit me on the arm....had two really big itchy hives afterwards:(

Alliandre

Well I'm not a sap or a carrot, so I guess it was something else that bit me back then.

Durnish

I have been looking thru' my insect book to see what green fly was trying to bite my arm, near the sites of horse-fly bites. This was out in marshy headland in Donegal. The farmer told us that last week had been a great week for sheep blow flies so now I have a vision of maggots coming out of my elbow.

Sheep blow flies don't /can't bite humans, do they????

sesswhat

Durnish wrote: »

I have been looking thru' my insect book to see what green fly was trying to bite my arm, near the sites of horse-fly bites. This was out in marshy headland in Donegal. The farmer told us that last week had been a great week for sheep blow flies so now I have a vision of maggots coming out of my elbow.

Sheep blow flies don't /can't bite humans, do they????

No, but then they don't bite sheep either. They are attracted to infected wounds on which they lay their eggs. The eggs hatch and it is the maggots that feed on the sheeps flesh.

Durnish

see, that's what I am worried about, my previous bites were oozing and that's what the green things kept finding.

No sign of maggot outburst yet. Mind you, that was only yesterday.

If I don't post tomorrow you will know that I have been consumed overnight by flesh eating maggots.

sesswhat

Worst case scenario, you might have to be dipped

Durnish

oh dear God.

lucidus

i am on this thread as i was just out walking in offaly an hour ago and sat down on a grassy/rocky bit of ground and was messing with my phone... suddenly my lower back started burning then my arse, then my legs...

so i jumped up and there was a big crack in the ground and untold ants running around. the were fairly large, but not like mediterranean size. they deffo had a reddish tint to them and were not totally black.

anyhow i ran home, jumped in the shower and now and here with lots of really burny bites on me. i took a few antihistamines.

i have never experienced anything like that in ireland... guess i sat directly on a nest but didn't realise they'd be able to do that much damage... i must have about 30 bites at least.

i wonder are these normal (red?) ants or a recent import due to warmer weather? they seemed very fast moving when i looked at them... anyone have any tips on how to reduce the pain.. they still really hurt.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Sounds like the very common Red Ant alright. The bites should ease fairly quickly. Any ordinary sting and bie cream will help.

artieanna

sesswhat wrote: »

Worst case scenario, you might have to be dipped

This is why I lovvvvvvvvve boards. always guaranteed a giggle:D:D:

So many different names for the same flies...
Cleg, Crowar
Blowflies are blue bottles in this part of the country I think
earwigs are goulans

gets very confusing as to whats what!

Durnish

I am alive and kicking!
I don't need the dip experience and I will be neither shorn nor have tasteful daubes of paint slapped on my fleece.

Wade in the Sea

Durnish wrote: »

I am alive and kicking!
I don't need the dip experience and I will be neither shorn nor have tasteful daubes of paint slapped on my fleece.

I am sure I saw a thread for that on After Hours

Wade in the Sea

So yesterday I was driving in North County Dublin and low and behold two bites on my leg just above the knee. I was wearing long trousers at the time Never saw nor felt a thing. How do they do it and why bother going all the way up to the knee?

What I recently found out is there are over 20 species of mosquito in Ireland of which Culiseta annulata is one of the most common. They do not carry malaria.

Graces7

Reviving an old thread as there are large numbers of yellow flies out here. I have jam jar traps to catch flies etc and have never seen this kind before. I know most insects.

Smaller than horse flies and a kind of dirty yukky yellow.

NB someone mentioned ticks and Lymes disease. Very few carry this in Ireland thankfully and these are deer ticks rather tnan sheep ticks. Had to look into this when we lived near tick ridden sheep and the cats used to come in with several and I got bitten several times.

This whole thread has me itching;)

recedite

Graces7 wrote: »

there are large numbers of yellow flies out here. I have jam jar traps to catch flies etc and have never seen this kind before.

Is there any faecal matter or dead bodies lying around there.
You are located in God's pocket?