New Yorkers remain bugged over the recent swarm of tiny, winged insects that have infested the Big Apple.
Although entomology experts insist the tiny aphids don’t pose any health risk, Gothamites are still giving the tiny critters a Bronx ‘Jeer.’
“There were bugs everywhere…it was disgusting,” griped Michaela Canlas, 26, who was running errands along Houston Street on Thursday when the swarm enveloped the city.
“You couldn’t dodge them. They got in your mouth and in your eyes,” she added. One art vendor who sells in Washington Square Park every day said the horde of insects was so bad on Thursday that he buzzed off early, even though it meant taking a hit to his business. “[The aphids] were a nuisance — I had to get the hell out of here,” the dealer said.
“At first, I thought it was just me [seeing the aphids],” he added. “It didn’t seem like anyone else was bothered — they were all just hanging out.”Many have taken to social media to make it clear that New York is now bug central, with one man sharing a clip of the aphids covering his beard.
In another creepy video compiled by the Daily Mail, a frightened woman turns her head to show off dozens of insects flying around it while a male pal literally turns bug-eyed as the aphids get too close to him for comfort.
In other videos, commuters are shown trying to swat the bugs away in vain while bicycle riders furiously try shooing them away – including one person whose shorts were saturated with the bugs.
Aphids are a non-stinging, common garden insect that feeds on plant sap — and are a sign of a “healthy environment,” not a Biblical end, according to David Grimaldi, a curator, and entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History.
Experts chalked up the sudden spike in the aphid population this year to an unusually mild winter and rainy spring, which have provided ideal growing conditions for moist flowers and plants — and the insects’ mating season.
