Iowa’s seeing at least one bumper crop this fall, but it’s not your typical agricultural commodity. Many millions of weensy insects called minute (my-NOOT) pirate bugs are swarming our yards in recent weeks and their bite, while tiny, can be a doozy.
Ginny Mitchell, education program coordinator at Iowa State University’s Insect Zoo, says they’re an appropriately named creature as they’re only about one-eighth to one-twelfth of an inch long.
“They’re called the minute pirate bug because they’re minute, they’re very, very small,” Mitchell says. “You can’t see them, which is why some people also call them no-see-’ems, but the no-see-’em is actually a little fly.”
Spend any time outdoors and you’ll likely be surrounded and attacked by these little flying monsters at some point. Mitchell says farmers and other growers should love the minute pirate bugs as they perform a very valuable service during the spring, summer and early fall, though they’re an absolute terror if you happen to be a smaller bug.
Ginny Mitchell (ISU photo)
“They eat plant pests. So they’re eating the little aphids and flying midges and scale insects, all the different little insects that eat our plants, so they’re very, very important,” Mitchell says. “They have a piercing, sucking mouth part, so they actually stab their prey and then suck all the juices out of it.”
Why are there so many of these itsy-bitsy biting beasts all of the sudden? Minute pirate bugs usually feed in the tree canopy or in a field, and as the trees start to lose their leaves and the harvest is underway, they’re having to look elsewhere for food. Mitchell says the best way to stave off a minute pirate bug is to wear long pants, long sleeves, and dark colors.
“Bug sprays do not work with these guys. They’re going to fall and land on you no matter what type of insect repellent you have on you,” Mitchell says. “They are not attracted to you for food like mosquitoes are. They’re just happening upon you, and then they stab you with their mouth part, which hurts really bad.”
If you’re bitten, use soap and water or hand sanitizer right away, and there are various creams and ointments that can bring relief, though Mitchell says a dab of raw honey may also do the trick.
The sting of the minute pirate bug can be very painful, which some people attribute to venom, poison, acid, or even the bug’s urine. None of those are true, Mitchell says, but they -do- secrete a type of saliva or enzyme.
“It helps to break down their food. Now they can’t eat us, and that enzyme does not work to break down us, but it can cause a little bit of irritation in some people,” Mitchell says. “So some people get bit and it’s just like being poked with a needle, and then it goes away. Some people will have a bite similar to a mosquito bite, and this varies from person to person.”
If you find an insect in your house, or even in the wild, Mitchell usually advocates not killing it, but she takes a different tack with minute pirate bugs. Squish as many as you want, she says, as “there are gazillions of them in Iowa.”