Tiny aphids have arrived alongside a lighter bout of Canadian wildfire smoke with horrified New Yorkers sharing clips of the insects burrowed in their hair.
Videos have been posted online at rapid fire to document the infestation with one man recording the bugs lodged in his beard.
Another frightened woman turned her head around to show how scores of the insects had embedded themselves in her hair.
In other videos commuters walking through the streets or riding bikes can be seen furiously swatting the air around them.
The tiny insects could be green or black but their size has made it difficult to tell with the naked eye as their species is yet to be determined.
Speculations that they could be among the pyrophilous, or ‘fire-loving,’ species has been floated.
At least 25 families of insects including Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera and Coleoptera are considered pyrophilous.
Curator of the division of invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History David Grimaldi told NY Daily News a majority of people believed they were gnats, but they are aphids ‘enjoying a boom year.’
‘Aphids feed on the fluids of plants, such as tree leaves,’ Grimaldi said. ‘They excrete little droplets of sugary secretions which sustain ants and other insects.
‘Given their numbers, these aphids are probably feeding from trees along sidewalks, in Central, Prospect and other parks.’
Aphids multiply quickly but have short life spans explained Grimaldi adding that the mild and humid spring has helped them extend their lives.
‘A lot depends on the weather,’ he said. ‘If temperatures remain mild and humidity and rainfall high, they will survive longer, for a few days to maybe a week or more.’
Aphids are rampant in New York, however predator species typically keep them at normal levels. This year however, the boom has made that more difficult.
‘There is absolutely no health concern,’ Grimaldi said.
Brooklyn resident Radiyah Chowdhury was walking to a bus stop in Crown Heights when she told the outlet she felt ‘attacked.’
‘Everyone around me was swatting the bugs away, too,’ Chowdhury said.
‘It was a futile attempt, though. There were too many of them. I thought it was isolated to that area until I reached my destination and had to speed walk through more of these swarms to reach home.’
