TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — If you have been outside in the heat recently, you may have noticed tiny, pesky bugs flying all around you.
These little bugs go by many different names, but according to the Vigo County Purdue Extension, the official name is hoverflies.
So, what is a hoverfly?
These flies come out around the summertime every year, especially when there is a lot of corn growing and the temperatures are high.
Even though these insects can be annoying while you try to spend time outdoors, the Purdue Extension said they don’t sting or bite.
Adult hoverflies eat nectar and pollen, while their larva feed on aphids—little sap sucking insects on plant leaves.
You can find hoverfly larva in all kinds of plants, helping keep the aphid population low.
“If you’re unfamiliar with aphids, the reason we love to have these flies around is an aphids can reproduce at 7 days of age and they can produce over a hundred offspring in their lifetime. So, they can have a really big population boom really quickly, so we like having the flies to take care of the aphids,” said Tabby Flinn, Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Educator.
Now that you know what a hoverfly is, you may now be wondering why these little bugs are flying around you.
Well, they’re also attracted to the minerals and salt in your sweat and actually lick it off of you.
If you’re tired of these pesky bugs, you can look forward to fall as their population will begin to drop as the temperatures do.
