Yellow flies--Ouch!!! Never seen them till this year

[Anonymous]

Where did this painful critters come from??? The need to go back home! I have lived in N Fla/S GA all my life and NEVER seen a yellow fly until this year and they are everywhere. I though maybe it was very local and only in my neighborhood but people at work were talking about how bad they are being bit many times at once like a swarm. They seem to have come from nowhere and I had always heard they were mainly a problem in other countries and spread Malaria, yellow fever and all kinds of nasty illnesses. Is anyone else seeing them appear?

[kevin]

I am working over by a swamp lake and want to destroy all of those dang flies. As if it wasn't bad enough with 300% humidity and 92 degree highs....

[Guest]

I have never heard of yellow flies. The closest thing I have seen are the Asian beatles. They are pretty aggressive and they do bite. Last fall, my campus was LITTERED with them.

[Cookiely]

Yellow flies are nasty creatures who can bite and take a chunk out of you. The bite leaves a crater. If your bitten enough, you will get a fever. Please use deep woods off or something similar. Years ago I was bitten on my legs rather severely and had to wear hose to work (nurse) so the bites became inflamed. During the time they were healing, I stepped in a hole and fractured my foot. The physician kept focusing on the bites and not on the fracture. I was in such pain, I screamed at him to forget the bites and FIX my broken foot.

[alicia-w]

yep we have those over here in the panhandle. nasty little suckers too. and those bites leave scars. my husband found some eucalyptus lotion (something else in it too) that seems to keep them away.

[Amanzi]

OOOO I hate those things. I think they are also called deer flies. I know they are attracted to dark colored clothing and movement. So if your standing in a black shirt doing the shoo-fly shoo, they come at ya like F18's.

They loved the back of my neck for some unkown reason and their bites really sting, also the sores they leave are horrendous. Fortunately since we moved away from the pine forest and near to the beach and intracoastal we dont seem to have a problem with them.

[weathermom]

They sound a lot like the black flies we get around here. They take chunks out when they bite and the bites itch for ages! The bites sometimes swell up to quarter size lumps.

[Rocketman]

Yellow flies, Deer flies. They're attracted to dark colors like someone said, dark blue in particular. There is no real way to get rid of them, and like horseflies, are attracted to areas around water like creeks and ponds.

[Aslkahuna]

Here in AZ, our biting insects in the lower elevations are, besides the West Nile bearing mosquitoes, the No-See-Ums. A variety of gnat, No See Ums, as their name implies, are very difficult to see and for such a small critter packs a strong bite.They are out in the early evening (like the mosquitoes) which is when most people like to sit outside and relax under their trees as the evening cools.

Steve

[GrimReaper]

Homey!!! I can't believe you've never been bitten, let alone seen a yellow fly here!!! Where I lived on the salt marsh, they were horrible, and bothered the horses !! I'm pleased to say that since I have moved inland to Palatka, on the river, I hardly see them anymore!! It's kind of strange, there aren't too many flies at all!! Anyway, I have experienced that LIGHT colors are what attract them.... to horses at least.... my pinto's and grays get attacked far worse than the darker colored horses.

Try Skin so soft...... it works on EVERYTHING!!!

Your neighbor,
Grim

[drudd1]

We definitely have them here, although they are nothing like they used to be. In fact, horse flies and regular house flies aren't as numerous either.............hmmm.