🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨

Sand fly adults are small flies – only about 3 mm long – and are golden, brownish or gray colored. They have long, piercing mouthparts that are well adapted for sucking blood from their selected host. Sand flies hold their hairy-looking wings in a vertical V-shape when at rest, a characteristic that distinguishes them from some other small flies. Also, the six legs on the adults are extremely long, being longer than the insect’s body.

Female sand flies are blood feeders, but the males do not feed on blood. Females must consume a blood meal before they are able to develop eggs. However, both males and females also consume sugar-related nutrients that come from plant nectar or honeydew. Sand fly hosts vary a great deal. Some species feed on both mammals and reptiles, while Lutzomyia shannani, a common sand fly species in Florida and other coastal states feed on white-tailed deer, horses, donkeys, mules, cattle, swine, raccoons, rodents, birds and humans.

In general, sand fly bites are very painful. Most flies that bite humans feed during the evening and throughout the night. In some cases, flies will attack in the daytime, if they are disturbed while resting.

In general, sand fly females must consume a blood meal to develop eggs.

Sand flies develop by complete metamorphosis, which means they go through four developmental stages: egg, larvae (grub), pupae (cocoon) and adult. Sand flies complete their life cycle within 1-3 months, depending on the sand fly species and their environmental conditions.