A visit to one of Toronto’s waterfront areas could be accompanied by a nasty insect bite as reports of barn fly clashes rise.
The stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans) looks like a normal housefly, but has the ability to bite like the black flies or horseflies.
Two different areas in Toronto are reporting an increase in flies.
A post in the Beaches Facebook group indicates that the flies are out and sting.
“You were out at full speed last night,” wrote one person this week.
Dogs in particular find the bites painful.
“These flies are terrible!” one person wrote. “They last about two weeks. My dog is a Doberman with short black fur and she’s unhappy – can’t walk to the beach until they’re gone.”
People also find the flies in Colonel Samuel Smith Park, according to a post on the South Etobicoke Community Group.
“They’re all over and they’re so damn annoying,” wrote one person.
Most people agree that the biting bugs in question are stable flies.
“They are 100% stable flies! I had to leave Col Sam Smith with my dog. He was full of it!” wrote a local.
They are closely related to the common housefly, but the stable fly has syringe-like mouthparts, similar to a mosquito, that can “sting your skin,” Douglas Currie, Vice President, Department of Natural History and Senior Curator of Entomology for the ROM, says blogTO.
Both male and female stable flies suck blood to feed.
Currie says the flies breed in rotting organic matter and aquatic weeds. They usually focus on lakefront areas.
“Barn flies are actually problematic everywhere in the Great Lakes,” says Currie.
The flies can spawn for several generations throughout the summer – this could be a high point in the cycle for the flies.
“They’re out every year,” says Currie.
The bites are painful, but not dangerous – these bugs do not transmit disease.
Currie suggests using bug spray with DEET or wearing long pants. It is currently difficult to get rid of the flies, he says. A homeowner could attempt to clean up rotting organic matter around a coast to reduce the numbers on site.
The stable fly does not come from North America, but came overseas with settlers from Europe.
“Now they’re worldwide,” says Currie. “This species literally torments people all over the world.”
