preface:
Introduction: Commonly known as "flying ants", resembling winged ants, if you encounter do not use your hands to shoot, you will secrete venom
Ants are more common in our lives, and they are also a small insect that everyone knows.
Although there are many varieties of ants, and most of them do not cause any harm to people, sometimes ants fall on the body and will bite people.
Especially in the countryside, there is a small insect called a "flying ant", which looks like an ant, but has a pair of wings that can fly.
However, it is not an ant, but a small insect that secretes acidic venom, and it is estimated that many people have been deeply hurt by it.
If you encounter this kind of bug, don't slap it like a mosquito or a fly, then it will be too late to regret it.
What are flying ants?
Flying ants are a common name of the folk, it is also called shadow worms, green waist worms, etc., the scientific name is cryptoptera. It is a common name for the coleoptera and cryptoptera beetles, which are widely distributed around the world and have many species.
Flying ants and the ants we usually see are indeed somewhat similar, but also slender body, the body length is generally not more than 3 mm, but there are also some large flying ants can grow to more than 3 cm.
The body color of this insect is generally black, and the front breast, abdomen and feet are orange, resembling ants. But the biggest difference is that it has a pair of slender wings.
In addition, although ants rarely bite people, flying ants are different. It is a small, poisonous insect that has toxins in the body during the egg, larval, pupae and adult stages.
When they land on our skin, if they are directly slapped to death by hand, the toxins in the body will infect our skin, causing cryptoptera dermatitis.
The dangers of flying ants
Flying ants are such a powerful role, so that many people do not understand it, when found that flying ants land on the skin, generally greet them directly with the palm of their hands, but this is very dangerous.
Flying ants have toxins in various parts of the body, and the distribution of toxins in different parts is also different, with the abdomen being the most numerous, followed by the chest and feet. Especially in the adult stage, the female has more than 10 times more toxins than the male.
It is worth mentioning that flying ants will not only be infected by direct contact with our skin, but also by falling on clothing, towels and other items, when accidentally touched and rubbed them, venom stained on it, contact will also lead to infection.
In addition, when our fingernails come into contact with some fragments of the flying ant's body, and then use it to touch other parts of the body, especially using it to scratch itching, it is easy to cause infection.
The high incidence of this insect is in the summer and autumn, especially in August to September, which is the peak period of incidence. When there is a continuous high temperature and drought weather, but there is a continuous autumn rain weather, it is easy to appear a large number of flying ants, resulting in a concentrated outbreak of poisonous cryptoptera dermatitis.
Like this year's Eleventh Period, many southern regions have found that some citizens are infected with the poisonous cryptoptera dermatitis.
Are flying ants really useless?
Although flying ants are a terrible pest to humans, they are a beneficial insect because they mainly prey on other agricultural and forestry pests.
The more common part is mainly carnivorous, they are mainly aphids, corn borers, leafhoppers, planthoppers, thrips, leaf curls, dipterans, orthopterans and other crops of dozens of pests, and the amount of predation is large, the number of individuals is large, and it is also helpful for agriculture.
It is worth mentioning that only a very small number of species can cause skin inflammation.
What should I do if I encounter flying ants?
So what if you encounter flying ants falling on your body? In fact, the method is also very simple, that is, do not directly slap it with your hands, let alone kill it. You can slap the part next to it and shake it down. You can also blow a breath directly and quickly blow it away.
Of course, the best way is to try to prevent it in advance. Because this bug likes to be in some wet, weedy and decaying trees, it is necessary to remove the weeds from the house and not create a habitat and breeding place for them
In addition, flying ants have strong phototropism, remember to close the doors and windows in advance at night, please remember to install screen doors and screens when conditions permit, so as to effectively prevent cryptoptera from flying indoors and reduce the chance of human contact with cryptoptera.
If you really accidentally hit the flying ants with your hands, don't be nervous, remember to wash it repeatedly with soapy water in time, there is a more serious dermatitis, you have to seek medical treatment in time.
Friends, have you ever encountered flying ants? Remember, although it is autumn, but there is more rain, flying ants may also come out to move, especially in the hottest areas of the south. When sleeping, close the screens and do not turn on the lights to sleep.