5 July 2023

Heat waves, wildfire smoke and now plagues of insects have made the news in recent weeks.

Last month Elko, Nevada had a plague of Mormon crickets (Anabrus simplex), a bug whose local populations boom and bust on a 4-6 year cycle. Though these 3-inch long katydids cannot fly, thousands upon thousands of walking and hopping crickets is a sight to behold and avoid.

CNN visited Elko to see the crickets on the move.

Thousands of Mormon crickets have taken over the town of Elko, Nevada, as these flightless, grasshopper-like creatures come out of their dormant period and into their migratory phase pic.twitter.com/6ZxD7yoPIr

— CNN (@CNN) June 14, 2023

Fortunately Mormon crickets live only in the American West, but a different plague of insects awaited New Yorkers after the Canadian wildfire smoke left town.

Three weeks after choking smoke from Canadian wildfires enveloped the city, an infestation of tiny flying bugs is the latest signal that some New Yorkers are interpreting as the portent of end times.

Since Wednesday [28 June 2023], New Yorkers running, biking, walking or on subways, have reported tiny insects, moving in cloud-like swarms, around parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, in some cases making it hard to breathe. …

David Grimaldi, a curator and entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History, told The City that the bugs getting caught in peoples hair are in fact aphids that are usually wingless but can develop into a winged form when populations become crowded and food quality suffers.

— The Guardian: New Yorkers baffled by tiny flying bugs swarming city in wake of smoke

Grimaldi did not name a species but here’s an example, an apple aphid. I doubt this is the one flying in New York.

Read more about the swarming aphids in New York City at The Guardian: New Yorkers baffled by tiny flying bugs swarming city in wake of smoke.

(photos via Flickr Creative Commons licenses and from bugwood; click on the captions to see the originals)