I found this on my head the second time today, last time i thought it was a spider (with doubts) So i tried to look for it for like 1-2 hours before i got it finally But they did not look like the first image because they can shed their wings when finding a suitible host and their wing shed form does get less acssociated with its name. Its at least harmless because it does not really carry illnesses but it can leave an itchy head for weeks :/ Better than ill at least

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[–] 22 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (10 children)

Harmless as Lyme-spreading harmless? Also, the bites are quite itchy.
If you love someone chawling under your clothes and in your hair, you're up for a treat:

  • you pass some bush, and now you have 15 new friends
  • in the most WH40K manner, they lose their wings when they find their host (you)
  • they are super sleek, so you can brush over them and think: "hmm, probably fell off"
  • for the first 40 minutes they sit quietly, and then, when you relax, they crawl in deeper, warmer and hairier places
  • even if you find one, they are super tough, so you have to crush them between your fingers, just against body it's usually not enough.

Great guys, love them!

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  • [–] 7 points 5 months ago (9 children)

    Lime πŸ‹β€πŸŸ© spreading? I think you mean Lyme.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago (6 children)

    They are thinking of deer tick not deer fly

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    i think they think about booth.
    Because the fly does shed its wings and likes hair but according to wikipedia only the ticks carry dangerous disease.
    Also booth seem annoying to remove and at least the fly (like lice) seems to needs a bit more force

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixodes_scapularis

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Ixodes are much more dangerous because in many regions they carry encefalitis. It's also not easy to remove them without a special tool and/or skill

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Tweezers ate more effective than the "tick key" but it does require skill to remove the whole tick without squishing it or otherwise causing it to regurgitate its lyme disease bacteria into you.

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  • [–] 12 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    ngl my whole entire-ass body itches after reading that article lol.

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  • [–] 9 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Confusing that they share a name with these evil things

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 5 months ago

    yes, that made it hard to find after i finally got at least the swedish name and tried to translate it.
    I used wikipedia as a translator in the end (open article in different language and chose a language then i understood)

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  • [–] 15 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    TIL Idaho is in the Eastern US.

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  • [–] 7 points 5 months ago

    I hiked along some cliffs in Mull where there was a large feral goat population, and was swarmed by these fuckers (we call them deer keds). Absolute nightmare fuel. They would quickly shed their wings and nestle in hair (mostly my beard) or inside clothing. They're really flat and leathery, and cling on for dear life - making them unreasonably hard to remove (they would wriggle free from my fingertips as I tried to prise them off.) I removed several dozen over the day and still found their corpses in my laundry.

    The only goats we saw were dead and stinking. On the plus side, the weather was bad enough to mostly keep the midges at bay. Without a doubt, the worst experience I've had in the Western Isles.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Can't stand these buggers. They wreck every nice hike up here. Nasty bites

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    Harmless huh? Spoken like someone who hasn't dealt with them.

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

    Edit: you may confuse the deer flies im thinking of with the deer flies (yes, thats some nice naming there) You probably mean those: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_fly There also seems te be deer ticks which can also be dangerous and adds to the naming confusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixodes_scapularis


    Meant harmless to human because they do not really carry disease.
    I dealt with two and learned mostly about the scarce ressources on web so i dont really have actual experience

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    You obviously have not dealt with them before. They are the devil incarnate. Fast, sleek, robust. They go for places that are hard to reach, they go for the eye. They make the deer fly look like a very mild annoyance. When you think you killed them, they go full Lazarus. They are stealthy.

    0/10 very bad experience, will not recommend.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 5 months ago*

    i assume i got lucky but at least i know that they are only dead when (probably my) blood is spilled. i will never risk pests getting out alive after my experience with head lice

    Edit: also i think i got very lucky so im biased and still dont want more exporiences with them

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago* (1 child)

    There's another species in the same family that parisitises pigeons. Any who's kept doves will probably be familiar with it. Thankfully those cannot live on humans.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago* (1 child)

    these are called ked flies. its related to bat flies( have 2 lineages specific to bats) which are bizarre flightless ones that parasitizes bats,(which are bizarre and thier evolutionary lineage with the bats.) bed bugs originated from bats, since they also posesses thier own versions.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    Wow I never heard of these assholes. Hope I never make their acquaintance.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 child)

    Where I live we call these elk flies (Γ€lgflugor).

    They hate garlic.

    When I was a kid my whole class took a trip to the woods and walked through a swarm of them. Thing is, we'd had cooking class the day before, and everyone in the same group as the kid who loved spicy food was unaffected. So 15 of us had to comb them out of our hair while the other 5 watched and laughed.

    So just eat spicy food until you ooze of it and you'll be fine.

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