Simulium Species

The bane of moose and man, blackflies of the genus Simulium (order Diptera:family Simuliidae) are known to have made many humans and animals jump in nearby lakes up to their necks to avoid blood-letting bites. As a cruel irony to outdoors aficionados, only the most pristine, well-oxygenated streams grow large hordes of blackflies, and not those tainted with pollution. From the remote New York Adirondack Mountains to the roaring streams of New Zealand, Simulium is the most diverse blackfly genus with almost 1,200 species arranged in 42 subgenera throughout all the zoogeographical regions of the world. While despised by humans and avoided as much as possible by ungulates, blackflies supply ample protein biomass to hungry stream fishes and flying predators, such as adult dragonflies and many birds.