Iowa — 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 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.
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.
Why are there so many of these itsy-bitsy biting beasts all of a sudden? Minute pirate bugs usually feed in the tree canopy or 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.
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. Mitchell says none of those are true, but they -do- secrete a type of saliva or enzyme.
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.”
