OorPancake t1_jd6umy0 wrote on March 22, 2023 at 7:10 AM

Midges invaded Iceland in 2015 and are already proving as much of a nuisance as they are in Scotland.

HomeAl0ne t1_jd6ww3g wrote on March 22, 2023 at 7:42 AM

Must be before 2015. There’s a whole region of Iceland called Mývatn that translates as ‘midge’.

OorPancake t1_jd6xku8 wrote on March 22, 2023 at 7:52 AM

That's true, but according to the Iceland Monitor they've had a problem since 2015.

I was surprised myself that they weren't seen as a problem before. (Maybe a different not so bitey species?)

-edit- That's what it is, the native species are non biting midges.

TheStoneMask t1_jdetqv2 wrote on March 23, 2023 at 9:49 PM

Biting midges have been in Iceland for a long time. This article from 2000 (in Icelandic) mentions 4 species of biting midges, 1 of which preys on mammals, including humans.

In 2015, a new species of biting midges appeared and started spreading through South and West, and that species turned out to be much more aggressive, and also much smaller than the native species, meaning it can get through the bug nets over the windows and bite people in their sleep.

Reports of excessive midge bites became much more prevalent following this new species, which is why that "problem" dates to that year, although biting midges are not new.

OorPancake t1_jdeua0h wrote on March 23, 2023 at 9:52 PM

That's what happens when you start direct flights from Glasgow to Reykjavik. :)