Winter gnat
Trichocera annulata
The winter gnat is a small, long-legged fly that looks like a tiny crane fly. It belongs to a family called winter crane flies, because they are busy in the cold time of the year when most other insects are hiding.
Lives in
Europe and North America, and brought by people to New Zealand
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Winter crane fly larvae live in damp places and feed on rotting plant bits.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Winter gnat about 8 km/h (5 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
A German insect scientist named Johann Wilhelm Meigen first described it in 1818.
2
In North America it lives from Alaska down to California, and also in Newfoundland.
3
It was carried to New Zealand by people and now lives there too.
you asked
Most asked questions about Winter gnat
?Do winter gnats bite?
No. They are harmless little flies.
?Where do winter gnats live?
In Europe and North America, and also in New Zealand.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Trichocera annulata
- Named by
- Meigen, 1818
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Trichoceridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Trichoceridae
- Lives on
- Europe, North America, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Trichocera annulata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga). CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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