Red Gall Midge
Hairy Body
Biting Midge
Anterior
| Red Gall Midge Hairy Body | | Biting Midge Anterior | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Flies (Diptera) | ||||
| Family: | Biting Midge (Ceratopogonidae) | ||||
| Species: | Biting Midge (Ceratopogonidae sp) | ||||
| This Photo: | Dorsal, ~3mm | ||||
| Other name: | Sand Fly | ||||
General Species Information: Found in the Adelaide Hills and possibly elsewhere These tiny little flies are on ~3mm long and superficially (naked eye) look black. Like mozzies, you usually can't feel them bite. But afterwards the area swells up. It is said that people who live in the same habitat build up an immunity to them, but tourists get badly affected. I squashed one biting me once and it made it 10 times worse. Basically squeezing irritants into the body. Unlike mozzies, that have a straw like proboscis (like moths), these have 2 sharp "jaws" they dig in and stand up vertical to the skin sucking blood. | |||||
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